Head of Klay

#416 2011 First Post

2011-01-17T23:50:00.002+08:00

Post number 416

First post in 2011 since my last hit in Oct 2010.. i have almost given up on this channel completely, because no one really reads.. what started as a blog with a silent wish that good writing and interesting content can lead to a following of readers has became nothing but a personal diary, visited more by friends checking in on that odd count then a reader's following..

2011 is surely a year of change, 17 days into the new year and i have been "upgraded" in my job.. i use the term upgraded because i have not been promoted in neither salary nor rank..

While many would be more than happy to celebrate such "promotions", i have held back so far..

One reason i changed my job was my problem dealing with the ongoings of office work, administrative duties, compiliation of endless amount of data, monthly meetings and so forth.. what i had enjoyed very much in the last 9.5mths is totally going to change..

perhaps i have not mentally accepted the new "challenge" or age has caught up with me that i am happy doing what i enjoy and able to do relatively well in.. i dislike leaving behind things for the next guy when i know i could have see through the process and complete what i was building.. i knew that with time and support, i could make things a lot lot better for everyone.. but things are not to be..

in any job, a promotion in position will be very celebrated, for it means that the path up has started and that bosses have faith that you can perform the higher responsibility job while they have yet to show their sincerity through your bank account.. having said that, with a growing boy and household bills, car bills, renovation bills, living expenditure bills to pay.. i would be crazy to not hope for a promotion and the hopeful tag-alongs of an increment or promotion in rank and grade at a later stage..

let's see what are my thoughts some weeks down, especially when the incumbent leaves for his posting and i'm left on my own..

but still.. i'm not entirely convinced by myself... i am my greatest enemy

#415 OT

2010-10-14T21:37:00.002+08:00

This job brings in overtime payments.

Damage done:

Car Servicing: 128

New Yokohama Tires, full set: 490

Total Damage: 618

Now where did my OT money go?

#414 SYorgy

2010-09-07T20:35:00.000+08:00

those in the know would be keenly aware on my involvement in SYOG.. as an a volunteer and much less as an althetic, SYOG for me meant hours and hours spent at work, providing logistics support to the hundreds of men and thousands of men hours provided by my company..

logistics support, or any support work for that matter, is predictably routine and not something that people really enjoy doing, you really need to have that "service heart" to do so with a smile, much less for me who prefers operational work and being "on the ground"..

with the constant changes in requirements flying my way and additional spanners thrown into the pool, things just seem to never end and from as early as 5 Aug, it was an onslaught of items, items and items..

when the action kicks in, there are more questions asked, most opinions raised and more comments from all sorts of people, many uncalled for.. just an example of the daily musings, rice is provided for breakfast as the management intent was for the guys to have a full meals before being deployed out (and a busy day, time for lunch would be a luxury) and muslim officers who are fasting during the period tend to skip lunch completely (i found out otherwise a few days in the fasting period).. so the comments were that rice was too heavy and if we could change to noodles or something lighter.. towards the final 2 weeks fo the assignment, we then managed to close the order for breakfast completely and swopped to MacDonald's Breakfast

Looking back, this logistics support work would not have been successful without the help of a good gang of "brothers".. these guys that work under my wing have performed to the best of their abilities to ensure that gaps are plugged and new requirements fulfilled..

by now, things are moving back to "normal" while it always feels that rest is never enough..

on the home front, wifey has also gone through her own version of SYOG.. looking after kiddo while dad dad was away for work as early as 4am and leaving work at around 2am for most days.. to my wife, thank you, to my kid, be good..

i'll write more when i write more then..

#413 Free stuff

2010-09-05T09:00:00.002+08:00

Been getting calls from pinoy-accented people offering me a free spa treatment at Body Contours, i hate to admit, but it's either i have serious hearing and concentration problem or i missed the latest codec update to decipher their accent.. advise to companies out there, if you want to engage in direct marketing, finding people who's english is generally audible over the phone goes a long way to ensuring that your product is rightly represented..

as so it goes, they are insistent on "fixing" an appointment for me though friends around me now generally understands that i take an awful long time to confirm if i can/cannot go to something..

so after missing the first appointment, i got a second call mentioning that i am entitled to the VIP treatment at no cost, don't bring your credit card they say! quite strange that they already determined that pressure selling is a cause for people not wanting to risk their mental health and credit cards through such sales gimmick which offers FREE VIP TREATMENT..

oh well, and 3rd call came when i missed the 2nd appointment too and i guess i made my point that i'm highly unlikely to get there in future and i'll just stick to whinning and exploring decent massage places instead of actually doing something about my aching body

Out.

#412 Down

2010-09-05T08:58:00.002+08:00

Readership has been down, i mean really down.. has it got anything to do with my lack of content? i'm sure its does!

Haa.. hang on

#411: Three

2010-07-08T21:01:00.000+08:00

3 months on 20th Jul

well, i guess today about sums up some internal problems that i face.

1. female officer who left and asked to come back with promises of improving attendance and performance failed very badly and was terminated today, i served her the letter

2. another female officer who i post out of my sector has now been reassigned back to me, warned her about her performance and attendance, chances have been given, one more strike and there'll be a second termination letter for me to serve

3. internal problem, vendetta from a DY resulted in questions asked indirectly about my sector.. with enough problems dealing with clients and internal parties from other BUs, the last thing we need is one of us pulling our leg from our backs, its the internal enemies that pisses me off indeed

out

#410 Vice

2010-05-08T08:05:00.000+08:00

having read quite abit of responses from others in the papers about vice in singapore.. i have refrained from making my comments in the web portals of local papers and choose instead, to publish my views here..

vice, also known as the world's oldest profession, if its a profession at all, is no secret in singapore.. say geylang and you are more likely to refer to prostitutes and streetwalkers more than the beef horfun, durian and in better days, the tau huey..

a deeper look into prostituion will reveal a few segements.. much like a marketing analysis.. traditionally, geylang houses the girls in rooms and entertain walk-in customers, such establishments will therefore also have operators or pimps.. and this arrangement is apparently legal as the workers are required to attend health screenings while the operators are somewhat licensed..

skipping the marketing channel of pimps, we have direct marketing on the other end of the chain, streetwalking prostitues engages with anyone seen as a potential customer and the deed would usually be done in a nearby budget hotel, the client's car or a dark back alley(yeah rite, where do u find that in singapore? haa..

so looking at the problem that the papers are highlighting, the prostitutes are appearing in the heartlands (kovan) due to the presence of budget hotels.. joo chiat was the first real example of a campaign to flush out vice in the neighbour, and efforts back then were somewhat successful, for joo chiat residents, but not for singapore on a whole..

with their home ground flushed, streetwalkers still need to get about their business and they "moved" into other residential estates like ang mo kio, toa payoh, chinatown.. this creates yet another social problem that have public writing to various papers to raise their concerns that their fathers, husbands or even kids can be negatively influenced by the presence of the prositutes..

there-in lies the questions, should budget hotels be allowed to operate in heartland areas such as joo chiat and kovan?

the customer profile for budget hotels that offer transit rates remains diverse.. no doubt that those engaging in vice remains the most high profile.. for example, if you see me one day walking out from hotel 88 at kovan, you will start thinking what i could be doing there? its pretty normal to assume that i have engaged in a vice activity.. likewise for scores of other men and ladies who walk in/out of such hotels.. but of course, we are missing the point about consenting adult couples who need privacy away from their place of residence.. so lets list down some of the non-vice reasons for people using budet hotels with transit rates:

1) Consenting adults (married or not) who require privacy away from home

(away from family, kids?)
2) Travellers who require some hours to rest/deposit their bags before their flight (e.g flight is at 11pm while hotel(good ones) checkout time is around 12noon
3) People who had too much a drink and choose not to drive home or are deposited into budget hotels by friends/colleagues
4) People who need to stay away from home (spouse/family abuse, noisy renovation work, nephews or nieces crying)
5) Friends who are watching a football game together (popular during world cup years)
6) People who are working too late (a night's rest at the hotel is cheaper/same price as cabbing home)
you get the drift..

so other than the usual vice activities that goes on in these rooms, there is another market that is keeping quiet among this arguements, not standing up to support this rooms (i mean, which couple will make noise now and tell the whole world then use the rooms for their private moments away from home right?)

Streetwalkers aside, therein lies another source of vice in modern singapore.. internet based pimps who advertise through blogs and other websites, the only area of operations, to this effect, would be transit rooms whereby their prostitutes would be able to meet their respective clients.. its kind of a remote control transaction where the pimp actually hides before the monitor and the risk of raid would have little effect them

Like two sides of a coin, vice has its place in singapore.. the question is, is the darkness creeping in the light, or has the light pierced into the darkness?

#409: Merit Eh?

2010-05-03T23:49:00.001+08:00

#409 took awhile to come, but there goes:

It's me talking about politics again.. perhaps, many of us that have stopped schooling or are too distant to people with kids in primary school might not have paid attention to this piece of news, in fact, i too have grossed over the details, i only know how that the government has decided that is it necessary to tweak the PSLE weightage for Mother Tongue downwards..

Quite obviously, this creates an impression that Mother Tongue is less important and thus pale in comparison to more important subjects like the english language, maths and science..

Now then, if the arguement that reducing the importantance of mother tongue helps deserving students who are disadvantaged due to their weakness in thw language..

then is this being fair?

so the MOE claims that reducing the weightage of mother tongue helps students..

It will allow those stronger in mother tongues, but weaker in other subjects, to go into streams that are more suitable for them.
-reported by Jessica Yeo, 26 Apr 2010, CNA

So its not the english speaking elites that we are trying to help here? That reducing the weightage for those STRONG in mother tongue actually helps them? How so?

Then for someone like me that sucks at math, wouldn't reducing the weightage help me instead of helping those who are stronger in math to go into streams more suitable for them?

MOE's position holds no water.. what have the policy makers done now?

Meritoracy is skewed

Meritoracy is screwed as well, hope my son don't get the brunt of this crap when its his turn to take the PSLE..

#408: Inherently

2010-04-07T21:36:00.000+08:00

Haven't check in for awhile, so if u one of those who bothers to turn up, i'm really sorry and thankful for your readership.. this reads and clicks on the adlinks on my page contributes a little towards my google pot.. haven't struck gold yet.. so oh well.. every little counts..

now, before i bore you with more nonsense, let's talk about something a little more interesting.. soppy here talks about being "inhernently evil" in her 6 Apr post.. (sorry, doing this without permission, hee)

Now, i'm not going to discuss if she's right or wrong about herself, but more about me, am i inherently evil too? i believe myself to be inherently nice.. doing things with a conscience, not willing to put people or things in harm's way.. but at the same time, i know i can be hotheaded when i want to, i know i have that ability to identify your weakness and hit you where its hurts, where it really hurts.. and when i do, chances are there will not be a sense of guilt in me, probably a silent smile that i have proven to myself that i can do in once more.. am i evil then?

i have always been somewhat interesting in the study of life, how fengshui, shuan ming, astrology and the likes affects our lives.. does my star sign, the gemini, have an effect on my life? do i really have two sides (some friends say more) that i can comfortably switch from one to another?

Soppy also talks about people who are depressed and pops pills to solve their problems.. while.. i have my share of being depressed but never once have a pop a pill for that.. maybe a chicken wing or a nice cold soft drink works better for me..

i know people have problems that they simply can't handle.. popping a pill is a solution, riding through the storm is another.. everyone has their own solutions, some stop trying and do stupid things to harm themselves, stupid things like killing themselves, hurting the people around them, doing things for revenge or what sorts..

She believes in the power of the human mind, i believe in the power of the human mind to influence another person's.. the choice is yours, do u want to help, or screw someone's mind when you can? That, will provide an answer to my question: Are you inherently evil?

Be good.

#407: Productivity

2010-03-13T22:26:00.000+08:00

So, that's the new buzz word by the PAP after all the budget "debate".. its no debate when the winner is already decided before the mouth even open, so cheerios to that yah.. efficiency, singapore style..

Productivity, how do you define this then? A roti prata man working in the Istana can produce 10 kosong and 10 egg pratas a day. In order to increase productivity, the roti prata man can directly work longer to make more prata, but that's not productivity.. productivity means that within the small working hours, the prata man make more pratas.. how to? He needs to work faster or harder, the stove fire needs to be stronger, there are many factors.. so how exactly do you upgrade a prata man's skills to make him make better prata faster?

Fast forward to our current situation, productivity also means having less people work on the job so that the existing manpower gets free up to do more stuff.. but but.. to run a country, we need top level officials, but but.. to have a Minister Mentor, TWO Senior Ministers, a Prime Minister and TWO Deputy Prime Ministers.. is that being productive?

Vote Wisely. Not to make a change, but to make a difference.

#406: Sums it up

2010-02-22T22:54:00.000+08:00

ohned says (10:52 PM):
i mean, i duno wana keep on doing tings tat i dislike
n work w ppl who dun understand
n cannot tink alike
n cannot work together
i also dun like to perform like tat at work
if they tink they are upset
i feel worse
they cant stop
so its up to me
i go
end of story

#405: Fishing

2010-02-22T22:04:00.000+08:00

Fishing is a sport/activity that i always wanted to learn, the crashing waves, seagulls flying, the cool wind in through my hair and the salt in the air.. fishing seems to provide a quiet time that i would enjoy..

but then again, in hot and humid Singapore, chances are you will have sandflies feasting on your feet, mosquitos ladies sucking your blood, sweat running down your back and loads of rubbish in the muddy waters.. oh well..

on fishing, there's always this saying "give a man a fish and he can have a meal, teach a man to fish and he will have fish for every meal"..

Out of this seemingly noble statement, hereins lies the nature of mankind to give advise, teach a man to fish we say.. more often than not, as sound human beings that have cognitive abilities, more so with the increase in education, we see ourselves in a better person to impart our fishing skills to others.. we analyse, we relate and we teach a man to fish..

so what happens when the man refuse to learn? or give up trying?

how what's worse? you spend some time learning about the man's plight and then after some careful thought, teaches the man to fish.. but at the end of it all, he tells you that he is not hungry at all, hence no need to fish and he wasn't listening..

oh well, fishes.. fish u

Happy New Year!

2010-02-13T23:27:00.002+08:00

To Chinese, the Lunar New Year holds much greater meaning and promise than the Ang Moh New Year.. so here's all the well wishes for you!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Wish you the best of health to enjoy all the great wealth that's coming your way this year

Wish you happiness in everything you do

Wish the world that 2010 will have lesser natural diasters and that people will not suffer

All the Best!

Huat ah!

#403 Religion

2010-02-10T23:37:00.002+08:00

Inspired by recent events involving a pastor making disrespect comments towards Taoist and Buddhist and then having apologies later after kopi with ISD.. i have my own views on the issues too..

religions teaches us to do good and do well, so there is hardly any religion that tell you its alright to harm others, make people unhappy..

the problem is, the marketing of religion is in a region where respect for other religion is disturbed.. when you try to convince others of your religion and in the process of doing so you end up insulting that religion, you are fucked..

so these people should fuck off, if you have a problem with someone else religion, keep your badly mouth shut unless being provoked.. and for YOU who have had insulted my and my family's religion before.. fuck off

Peace out

I'm not really suited for any religion so may Buddha, Guan Yin, Tua Pek Gong etc help me.. thank you sincerely

#402 Closure

2010-02-10T23:24:00.002+08:00

It has been a week since my grandpa's cremation and things are moving along.. well, quite.. somehow somewhat, there seem to be a lack of closure and at times, i feel unsettled..

on the work front, things just keeps getting worse with stupid comments so stupid that i brand them farking stupid.. so please.. stop this shit now before i blow my temper at you too.. you can be emotional, you are lose your cool because you are the boss.. but i can hold my temper, i can hold my peace because i'm the executive.. but still, there's a limit to everything and all it takes is a bad day and very stupid people to get the fire started..

As it is, Lunar New Year is coming but i hardly feel the mood.. perhaps it the timing of my grandpa's passing, perhaps it the relentless workload that's keeping my high and dry from any celebratory mood..

baby is getting well and fine day by day.. daddy has too little time with baby and know that mummy is stretched.. daddy happy and lucky to have mummy looking after you.. if mummy is not strong enough or not willing enough to look after you when daddy is busy, then we will all have a hard time.. but daddy heng, mummy nice nice and mummy can take good care of you even when daddy not around.. so you continue to be good boy k..

Valentine's Day is on Lunar New Year, bad news for business as the cash cow day is interupted, overpriced flowers, gifts, dinners.. but loads of pretty and smiling faces (people generally all look pretty when they smile except some very very very ugly ones..) so yeah.. happy people create happy vibes..

Wifey's V-day gift for me and almost exactly the same as my V-day gift to her.. she bought black colour for me while i bought white colour for her! we both have iPhones now.. so yeah..that's our gift to each other this vday.. ok.. abit lame.. haha..

okie lah, this post is heading nowhere, abit too random for my own liking.. outs

#401: End of the road

2010-01-31T01:08:00.002+08:00

For readers of my blog, i didn't expect #401 to read like this.. i had quite a few thoughts and topic to blog about yet i wasn't motivated/interested enough to get to it..

For readers of my blog, my grandfather passed away this evening (30 Jan 2010).. towards the end of his journey, old age and sickness took away the authoritative man that i have come to know and fear as a kid..

At the end, i believe that pain was minimal and this had come as a relief for him..

For him, he has reach the end of his journey.. rest well grandpa

#400 Choice

2010-01-19T22:58:00.002+08:00

Life in general

In general, each and everyone of us has a choice to live the way we want.. courses are taken, classes are attended and jobs are taken as we choose our path in life..

With a good number choosing the "standard" path of a strong education and working experience in a reputable and big company, jobs are in demand, especially as we move towards economical recovery..

But this post is about other choices in life.. a friend of mine lost his iPhone in the gym one night.. an iPhone, a brand new iPhone that he had sync with all his applications and also the other websites like your facebook, ebuddy and sorts..

What surprised me was how well he took the lost. He shared that he had once left his phone on one of the gym machine and was lucky to retrieve his phone when he returned from his shower.. "this is lesson for me", he said

What matters most then is how he has choosen to face the awful truth that his neglience caused him his brand new iPhone.. now if i was in his shoes, even with my old Sony Ericsson, i would surely have been more affected.. i know well that i have not any backup for the contacts in my phone and i would be affected by the lost of precious photographs in my phone: the confirmation of the pregancy, baby's ultrasound scan pictures.. so much more

He is calm over his lost because he has choosen to handle it well.. he chose not to be upset nor curse the thief (which i certainly would).. "this is a lesson for me", he said.. For me, this is a lesson too.

#399: Final Journey

2010-01-19T00:31:00.001+08:00

For him, the final journey beckons..

Life is such, the very moment that we were born, we begin this slow process callled life.. from the helpless infant that we are, our parents and those around us nurture and care for us to grow and be independent, for us to then start our own lives and create life of our own to nurture and to grow.. as time passes, we age and we get old, weak and basically we begin the process of dying..

In sickness, one wonders if the mind is still strong enough to be aware of the surrounding, to fight the illness, to worry about loved ones.. from the outside, the sight of a feeble body that is approaching the end of the road is painful yet so real.. at the end of the day, everyone of us has to go through the process, there is no other way but the end of a journey that each one of us partake..

and sadly it seems, for him, the final journey beckons..

#398: Monopoly Singapore

2010-01-18T11:30:00.000+08:00

This post is not about the famous boardgame but general concepts apply.

In land-scare Singapore, its amazing how Property has become one of the main sources of generating a huge amount of money over time. Sadly, this is a game that is played by the rich ones where the poorer part of the nation continues in the day-to-day earnings as an employee..

Way back in early 2006, wifey and i had confirmed our HDB flat at 217,000. That's quite alot of money for a 16th floor, 4-room, 93sqm HDB flat located in Punggol, a relatively "ulu" and facilities-lacking location back then..

Fast forward to 2010 and here we are, done with renovations and house-cleaning and having spent a little over a month in the new house, we have somewhat adjusted to this new life in our new home. What has changed though, is that the 217,000 house we paid for is worth some 280,000 now. Just for calculation sake, the jump of $60,000 over 4 years is about $15,000 increase yearly. 5 years down(HDB rules states new flats can only be sold after 5 years occupancy), this figure is bound to increase and a sale, if any, of my flat will probably give me a return in the return of $100,000. Not. Bad. At. All.

Changing scenarios, the very same model applies to buyers of private properties. Condominums, Penthouses, you name it. Proceeds from sale alone is not the only source of income, instead, something quite more powerful is the rental market. A good condo conveniently located can rake in some $4,000 a month.. that's more money than i and a large part of Singaporeans earn on a monthly basis!

This brings us to the question as to who can afford to buy a condo and rent it out: The Rich. As the rich get richers buy renting out $4,000/month condos.. the monthly generated helps to fund other investments to ready for the next property buy.

On another end of the spectrum, friends who are getting hitched are searching for a place to call home. Resale flats offers good locations and matured facilities while renovation cost and cash downpayment tips the balance. New flats are hard to come by and BTO flats results in homelessness for 3-4 years.

"Build more houses (Buy in SG's context) and collect rent. This is the way to win Monopoly."

#397

2009-12-29T00:21:00.002+08:00

With 2009 coming to a close, the biggest topic of the year seems to be my job and how i'm coping with this job..

Of course, the greatest joy and also anxiety had been from the birth of my baby and the 8months++ of coping with the pregnancy with my wifey and the ups and downs as well..

With countdown creeping closer and closer, i find myself seriously lacking the time that i usually would have to reflect upon the changes in situation and the passing of time..

mental and physically fatigue has also drain my once-creative and entertaining post, this could be a reason that i seem to lose readers or people don't check back that often anymore.. people like good news and happy things.. not rants about work, life, money and people..

12.24am - i have put in extra hours for work once again.. would this result in better days, better weeks, better months ahead? How long would i survive or suffer? How much longer would i bear? What options could lie ahead? What choices would i have to make?

That's alot of questions for a very short week..

And if i havent really seen you guys, we'll have to make do with next year..

till then, i hope you enjoyed your christmas and the last day, the last hour, the last minute, the last second of 2009 that belongs to you and you only.. will not be about work.. unlike me..

396: Dust

2009-12-09T23:56:00.002+08:00

For those reading 396 on a thurs/friday, i'm probably busy cleaning up the house for staying condition, so yeah.. keep yourself entertained by choosing some of those links on your right and read some other blogs.. have fun

395: Interest

2009-12-06T22:19:00.002+08:00

Something should be really wrong if the GM needs to sit me down to talk it out.. as it seems, he now holds the impression that something is really wrong with me and that i gave him the feel that i'm not interested in my work..

is that really the case?

Have i really lost interest in my work?

It was a question i didn't answer over work, it was a question that perhaps i'm sure of an answer, or perhaps its an answer that i'm not prepared to face as yet..

somewhat, i feel that i have little left to learn in my current capacity? does that mean that i have perfected my craft and thus nothing more needs to be learnt? It seems more of a case that i'm sick of the coordination work that i'm running and the lack of thinking that stems out from my job.. perhaps that's why i'm not performing to his standards.. because i care less about certain areas of my work now than i used to, than i should..

this seems to be heading down a really difficult path.. how will i survive this bad patch? will misfortunate strike again before i pick myself up? am i restricting my fightback because to some extent i know that the criticism that i recieved is not fully unwarranted? am i being picked on since i was once held in high regard by the same person who sat me down to talk now?

yes, i'm sick of all these unanswered questions.. maybe i'm not even trying to answer them now... as monday looms, i just hope things will turn out well.. till then.. till then then..

Post 394

2009-12-03T00:51:00.003+08:00

394 is about gossip, office gossip as i wait for my hair to get dryer before heading to bed..

my day ended really late today as i was waiting for the PR girls to send out the photos to ST by tonight in time for tomorrow's run.. a 10.30pm deadline got stretch to 11.30pm and i left office close to midnight after shutting down the entire office and waiting for my cab to arrive.. my cabby, of all days, had to choose today to drive to the wrong taxi point when my usual Press "1" states clearly its GIANT drop off point.. damn

as it is..i promised some gossips in hope of maintaining the feeble readership that i still manage to hang on to and hope that more people will start commenting on post to make the writer feel more alive!

the new senior executive that is not so new now happens to be my neighbour in office.. and for someone relatively new, she has managed to piss of quite a few of us and you know she can be really pesky when even the GM feels harassed by her.. let me get this straight, she's pesky because she likes to bug you about work, she will ask you questions looking for answers she don't need to know, or answers she should already expect.. there's no point chasing me for the same thing 5 minutes apart.. i don't have time to check and you are certaintly not on my list of priority.. i know you want to get your things done but every task has a place in the food chain, my tasks included, much less yours.. multiply the same pesky-ness by a few executives and a few seniors and i guess we pretty much have a picture of how thing's like..

the sian-ness in office is also getting ... more sian.. haha.. i'm not alone when i say i'm sian and i believe that i'm part of a bigger group either waiting for some miracle to happen or some phone call to come our way for interview.. the only problem being that while i have shortlisted some potential jobs out there, i haven't actually sent anything out.. so there goes.. No Action Talk Only.. i suck

on the home front, renovation seems almost complete and the final pieces of the jigsaw will come together as we head towards the 10th day of the 12th month of the year.. house-warming will have to wait for most of you reading this blog as some dates have been pre-booked by wifey and our house is simply not big enough for everyone at the same time and on top of that, weekends are precious moments with the little one and we need to cherish every moment, on top of work commitments, weekend duties, cleaning up the new place and getting things in order..

quite a bit going on there uh?

keep yourself warm for the housewarming yeah, you should hear from me soon.. i hope. haha.. make some noise here if you don't.. i read this page much more than any of you, that i'm sure..

good nite

Of Hard times

2009-11-19T22:54:00.003+08:00

Maybe i'm supposed to know but i don't know, maybe i'm supposed to fix it but i can't.. things just don't seem to go right at the moment..

working at the same place for over 10mths now, i'm lacking the motivation to carry on, i'm sick of the things i need to do on a daily basis and i'm sick of the things that's going on above me, above him, beside me, around me.. things SUCKS.

i used to like what i did with my current workplace as a service provider and i still liked what i did as i joined the company.. i enjoyed doing what i could do well in and i'm sick and tired of looking back and remembering what i enjoyed instead of actually enjoying what i'm doing..

has the change in management really changed things so much?

has the change in my life and family dynamics really changed me so much?

even as i type this i'm getting sick of thinking about this problems that i'm forced to look at on a daily basis.. sometimes it just seems like my mind enters a period of neverending overdrive and its sucking the freaking energy out of me..

back home, i look forward to the presence of 2 persons that can mend the day, but that too becomes hard when i can hardly be back early and i end up not doing things i said i'll do, i end up not being able to buy things that i really needed to get because the shop is already closed when i finally get there..

so what's going on now? am i really the person that i seem to be now? am i a poor performer both at work and home? am i dependent on my past reputation to back me up?

I wish i can stop thinking about this things, but most of the time, this shit just keep coming back into my head..

I hate to say this.. but it seems like i'm farked..

Post-Edit: Just as i'm done publishing this post.. 2 SMS from my manager came in, the time now is 11.07pm.. work NEVER ends does it? uh? uh?

Of Happy

2009-11-05T00:10:00.001+08:00

Happiness needs few words.

Arsenal 3-0 Tottenham

Of Competition

2009-10-26T22:33:00.001+08:00

Some lunch duty nonsense at work is being translated to time for the mind to wander instead of focusing on work completion..

Long long ago in a land far far away, there was a rich family who controlled many businesses on an island. The rich family was headed by a stubborn old man and this old man had 2 daughters: Sindy and Stacy.

One day, old man decided to let Sindy and Stacy run part of his business, the coconut business. The problem is, the island which the old man made his fortune on didn't have any coconuts, so coconuts where bought from another island and sold for a profit here..

Old man allowed both Sindy and Stacy to sell coconuts as he didn't want to interfere with "market forces''. As time goes, the main coconut wholeseller became smarter, he stopped selling to both sindy and stacy and ask them to bid for the whole batch of coconut for a 3 year period.. In the first year, stacy won the bid and was doing good business. Sindy still survived as she sold other less popular drinks.

Forward to year 2010 and Stacy's deal with the coconut seller is expiring. Sindy made a huge bid that Stacy could not match and thus Stacy could no longer sell coconuts. Residents of the tiny island became worried as they are so used to buying coconuts from Stacy.. they knew too they Stacy would charge them more for the coconuts as she spent alot of money getting the deal from the coconut seller..

With all this happening, the old man who gave the capital to both Stacy and Sindy to start their business looks on and decides not to interfere.. ultimately, he argued, there are free to decide how much to bid and sell their coconuts for.. BUT.. if the old man had been smarter, neither Sindy nor Stacy would need to pay so much for the coconuts in the first place..

This is the island where the old man creates competition that does not benefit Sindy nor Stacy and definitely not the residents who enjoy having coconut..

Back to reality and a totally unrelated incident which happened a few months back. Singtel won the rights to the next 3 season of English Premiership Football and incumbent Starhub disappoint fans who are currently on their football package.

Will fans have to pay for more since Singtel entered a high price bid for the football?

I'm not interested to find out.. on to the net for 10/11 season then

390

2009-10-07T23:30:00.002+08:00

Post 390

Has it been that long and that many post already?

If you are one who bothers checking in on a somewhat relevant basis, i really appreciate it cause more of the time, it feels like no one is reading.. no comments, no post on the cbox, nothing..

No i'm not depressed, so don't worry.. in fact, there's quite a bit of excitement and anxiety of another milestone in life that could and should happen this saturday.. it takes abit of everything to come together nicely and after that, there will be other things to worry about..Haa.

While i have also been using Debit cards only, my first credit card was actually something that the wifey got for me, a s

upplementary case just in case something really crops up and i need that lifeline.. then as time went and dining privileges, amongst others, become more attractive, it becomes inevitable that i would start to apply for one.. being in a job that actually qualifies me for a credit card helps too.. this is afterall my 1st job as a degree holder and my earlier diploma-level jobs didn't pay me that well and my bonuses were negliable as i move around 3 places searching for experience.

With food on my mind, it was somewhat fitting that my first card is associated with one of my favourite dining place, to top it off, the place also gives me a pleasant buzz when i move from one area to another, thinking about what i could buy to fit into my home..

My first card:

Of Fertility

2009-09-19T00:41:00.002+08:00

In an attempt to ease the moodiness of this blog and in the essence of time provided by a sleeping baby (instead of a crying one), i had prepared this post on the 17th for its appearance only on 19th..

despite the availability of information on the internet, it seems like most people still refrain from searching for information and learning to unlearn, learn and relearn but they have.. as it is, i'm not referencing your medical shitheads, wiki and what-nots for this post.. just a random flow of information that this tired mind can recall..

i do hope that readership can increase after the succession of 2 postings in 3 days.. hence the more interesting topic on fertility.. the recent upgrade from husband to dad-mode also somewhat meant i'm a little more qualified on the topic..

now now, basic science or biology that you had taken in secondary school would have educated you that a sperm has to fertilise an egg before a child can be conceived, what science didn't teach you then, was that an egg is only ready to be fertilised in a 24hour window period after it descends from the ovaries.. what's more interesting is that where the "ready" egg is available for only 24hours, the human sperm, under the right conditions, can thrive in the womb for up to 3 days while readying itself to fertilise the egg..

confused?

Bascially, it takes an awful lot of chance or an extremely high amount of testing and planning to successful fertilise an egg, the next chance for the successful combination would be to nest itself onto the wall and begin development into a foetus in the womb..

from a tiny little dot in the early days to the comma-like creature that developes into a cashew nut and finally a tiny human, fertility, pregancy and childbirth is a challenge in its own.. if you are serious about getting a child, find out more, ask your friends (can ask me too), ask your gynae, ask you wife's gynae, ask ask ask

good luck

*Hope this was an interesting post after a lack of time and creativity has kept this blog rather boring over the last weeks, i do hope to do more of such post and i hope you folks who bother to check in frequently don't get disappointed.. on a totally separate issue, i got my first cheque from google for the ads i read here.. so thanks if you are one of those who clicked those ads or used the google tab to search stuff.. you had certainly contributed to the milk powder/diaper fund.. stay around for more!

Of 2 Fronts

2009-09-17T00:09:00.006+08:00

Been busy on 2 fronts, the home and work front..

At home, it seems like i'm guilty of trying to do everything, wash baby clothes, feed him, wash the bottles, change diaper, prepare food for wifey, clean the room, clean the house.. sounds like alot of things but majority were done in a less than complete manner.. and at the end of it all, it seems that i have over-estimated my abilities to manage that many things in the short hours that i have.. people operate more effectively when the necessary tools and equipment are available to them, the same goes for equipment, they function better when the user is well aware of its capabilities and limitations.. maybe i should really let go and just be less ambitious when planning for the home front.. my morning hours before work are just enough to feed the baby, sterilise the feeding bottles and that's about it.. i can't cook a dish, i haven't gone to the market.. washing is always impossible unless i wake an hour or so earlier..

on work, i have been turning up late and its getting more and more consistent, usually due to the fact that i attempt to do the things above and stretch myself thin over the limited minutes i have before i head towards the train station.. work also becomes more motivating when one is learning and working in effective teams.. my latest "big" project was not exactly mine, here's the story if you are still interested in reading (if not, skip green):

i was assigned a big-scale event that was never done before and the initial timeline for planning falls closely to my baby's estimated delivery date (EDD), as it is, the event continued to be assigned under me as my GM wanted me to gain an experience leading a project.. at the same time, there was an assistant mgr overseeing this as they attempted to throw me in the deep end.. my concerns on the other hand surrounds the fact that i am on reservist for the last 2 weeks of july, with my baby EDD on 20 aug and the event orginally planned for mid-august. In the end, the pace of preparations fell badly and the event was shifted to 12 of the next month.. between august to sept, work was hectic as i returned from 2weeks of reservist and 1week of paternity and annual leave to settle the kid down.. and combination of poor sleeping conditions and a troublesome confinement lady left little energy for work and i struggled to clear the backlog of emails and outstanding work while grappling with what went on with the event during my absence.. a week after i returned, i was bombarded with the work surrounding the event and its was a great mess reading up on what happened and coordinating things like food tasting, advertorial writeups, photo sourcing, getting an agency in order and generally working to prevent potential landmines from being step on as the timebomb ticked away..

as the event day draws closer, i begin to doubt more about the wisdom of appointing the chosen event company, or the lack of it in making the decision.. i can be critical about things that i feel strongly about.. initial ideas proposed by me were scrapped completely and that proved to be the event's achillies heel as the emcee struggled to down crowds when the stage games were on.. what a disappointment.. i shall not even go on to talk about the reasons for scrapping my idea.. i recommended something because i saw a gap and i tried to plug it, but the plug was remove and the water went away as it usually would..

my lack of pride in the work produced, the events company and how i was not impressed how a manager and assistant manager could not have noticed something was missing from the plot could be one of the reason why i shown a lack of resistance to just let it flow.. on the flip side of that very same coin however, i was faced with direct feedback from the GM that i have people disagreeing with his assessment that i was a good worker..

perhaps i have really lost my mojo once my baby came into the picture, perhaps i find it hard to motivate myself with a team that lacks synergy, perhaps perhaps perhaps.. enough excuses..

(if u had been uninterested to read the full story, i hope you had skipped to this part instead of just clicking that X on the top right-hand)
incidents in the weeks have subltely shown me how people expectations of me is now gradually reduced as they begin to question my ability to manage higher loads of work.. i agree to an extent that i'm not ready to lead projects, it's a senior's terrority to lead a project and all the more it becomes harder for an executive to lead a project that is overseen by an Asst Mgr and the Mgr

the decision to drop me from an upcoming campaign has its pros and cons.. on one hand, it frees me up to concentrate on certain aspects of my work that are deem more important at this point it time.. on the other hand, it demonstrates a lack of faith in my abilities, a lack of support from management in times where performance are undermined by the team i work with and the commitments at home..

every cloud has its silver lining, mine came travelling down to where i work to show to the light.. opportunity knocks when its least expected, the question is, is the timing right? will the wait be worth waiting for?

Somethings, only i'll know

Shanks for readings.

Of Nice!

2009-09-10T23:06:00.002+08:00

Kuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world - (song is Please don't go by Barcelona) from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.

Arsed

2009-08-28T07:30:00.002+08:00

Celtic 3-1 defeat at the Emirates to take the aggregrate score to 5-1 was marred by claims of dive on Eduardo to win the penalty that resulted in the first goal..

Did Eduardo dive?

The winning teams of the past season had accusations of diving too, Cristinano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba.. is Arsenal getting close to winning something this season?

Champions draw was lucky on Arsenal, unlucky for fans who want to view a better game, but that'll all come when we enter the final stages of the competition.

TIll then, lets gun down Man Yoo

Of MRT Ride I

2009-08-19T20:17:00.001+08:00

The daily morning ride in the mrt gives a good opportunity to people, especially so as standing for over 18mins provides a bird's eye view to my surrounding, except for the fact that there are other birds standing around..haa

Today, a pram was parked before with while a mother had her daugher sitting on her lap in the priority seat. The girl must be around 4-5 years old, her language ability and mannerism impressive. Mummy was guiding daughter in completing a workbook where one had to draw the other half as a mirror image to complete the picture (think half of a spade shape waiting to be filled, half a house, half a face etc)..

What impressed me was the mummy's patient in guiding and also how she allowed the child to have space to experiment and attempt at making the shape out first, when help was needed, mummy step in but didn't take over fully, holding on to her small gentle hands, the pencil was guided to form a closer likeliness to what the exercise required..

What stood out in today's observation was something that the daugher did without asking. When drawing the other half of a door to a house, she instinctively added a door knob to the door. Now that was not required as the exercise requires draw out the mirror image of the door, just a simple outline will suffice, but this young lady was inventive enough to decide that a door needed a knob.

Here comes the question, did the mother correct her daughter for adding the door knob or not? Would she be right to correct her daughter?

More in the next post.

Of Everton 1-6 Arsenal

2009-08-16T22:18:00.000+08:00

Well well well, the English Premiership Season 09/10 got off yesterday, with Chelsea beginning their campaign against Hull lead by their cunt-manager.. pardon the language, its as mild as it can be..

But who cares about Chelsea or the fact that Man City managed 2 goals and 3 points in their first game since their inflated their squad with 10 strikers?

It was ARSENAL that steal the show! Playing away at Goodison Park, arsenal was facing a team just 1 place below us in the season before and looking to proof our mantle since selling Adebayor and Toure to the oil money of Man City..

I guess the game pretty much shows how much we miss those two.. 1-6 could have been 0-7, 0-8.. but i could be anything..

Prof Wenger stuck to his new formation and it all look fluid in the league, with the ball moving well and possession play opening up space for players..

What pleased me more this time around was the players were so much more willing to shoot at goal and set-pieces seemed to worked better now!

Denilson opened the game with a nicer curl shot from outside the box after a slow-motion bendtner with his new no.52 beat everton defenders in slow motion and fed it to fabregas.. fab was instantly closed down by some 3 players and he released the ball to the oncoming denilson who's right footed sweep curled the ball into the net, 1-0 to arsenal!

New signing Thomas Vermaelen looked happy to jump into the box and i found him looking silly as he jumped into the net following a corner, but he refused to be laughed at and his jumping abilities proved useful when he was at the end of a van persie free-kick to make it 2-0.. what a first half this is becoming! Vermaelen's counterpart was not to be overshone and Gallas, one of the shortest on the field, rose well to a fabragas freekick to make it 3-0 before the break..

Wenger must have said nice things in the dressing room, 3 mins into the second half and a flowing move saw Van Persie cutting the ball in for Fabregas to finish in true arsenal fashion.. Fab was not done as he had enough time and space to dribble half the pitch and lash a shot at goal just outside the box as non of the everton defenders closed down on him.. 5-0 it was with 2 goals from Captain Fab.. the rout was completed late into the game when Ashravin hit the ball from a seemingly impossible angle to strike the post and Eduardo was first to tap in one of the easiest goal he will score in the league! 6-0 to arsenal!!!

Not wanting to disappoint the home fans who was witnessing the onslaught by the team that everyone discounted, everton was allowed to score a consolation and 6-1 it was..

We rock, Go Gunners!

The boss said we needed 82 points this season to win the league, thats another 79 to go from the remaining 37 games, here we go~

Of Open

2009-08-06T01:49:00.004+08:00

Open this up and take a closer look =)

More here

Of Quiet

2009-08-01T23:12:00.000+08:00

Denson's out so this place is just going to be quiet for quite awhile.. meanwhile, you should know which blog to head to, if you don't, just look around really hard

Michael Jackson Tribute - Stockholm. July 8, 2009

2009-07-23T23:33:00.001+08:00

Flash mob done as a tribute... great work

Of Management Change

2009-07-16T20:36:00.003+08:00

In the farm, there used to be the Chief Farmer and the Deputy Chief Farmer.. their jobs were to oversee the teams taking care of pigs, chickens and cows.. the Cheif Farmer was especially founds of the chickens and in a way took special care of them but the Deputy Chief Farmer was fond of the pigs and took effort to guide them as they went about their daily lives..

Then one day, things changed.. The Chief Farmer left and the Deputy Chief Farmer took over. Another person was brought in, but she was a cows specialist and was not allowed to be involved with the Chickens and Pigs.. then the new Chief Farmer began to pay more attention to the Cows and Chickens.. the pigs were in a way "left to fend for themselves" with the new environment and while the new Chief Farmer kept an eye on things, he also declared that he had too much to do and thus expects the pigs to live well and their own and continue to as if nothing has changed..
but has nothing changed?

Change is the only constant.. especially in this Big Farm

Of The 15th

2009-07-15T21:39:00.000+08:00

I'm trying something different today.. with a notepad on my screen, i'll just do a line or two when i have time or i get irritated enough to not want to follow up on something or listen to some people..here goes:

I was late at work today. Actually, i'm about 15-20 mins late on most days, not exactly your punctual worker.. i was you know, when i was serving my NS as a "full-time office worker".. then i start coming in late by 15mins since people get in 30mins late, then it was all downhill from there..

Baby scan last evening (14 Jul) went well.. everything seems okie and Baby D is weighing in at 2.11kg when his daddy should be way pass 70kg..haha

3 more days of working before i head off for reservist over 2 weeks, a chance to rekindle old ties with people in the force, to take my mind off work and finally to spend more time with wifey and Baby in tummy~

On the footballing front, oil money funding Man City has gotten them Santa Cruz, Carlos Tevez and The Gunner's Adebayor is apparently in talks to move for 20-25mil pounds.. now that's good money for the club for someone that didn't live up to the expectations following a 30goal season back in 2007.. and i believe the move will go through and this player who insist that he is commited to the Arsenal's fight will be kissing his Man City badge when he does score for them and he will.. so be it.. will be waiting for stories about how he feels unappreciated and unwanted at the Emirates Stadium.. baa.. i'm glad he's leaving, hope he's gone and let's wait for the arrival of Chamkh or whatever that spelling was..

10mins to lunch and i'm hungry.. seems like time is passing faster this week or does my impending reservist have anything to do with it?

7.52pm now.. everyone from the department has left office.. one has maybe gone for dinner and could be heading back soon.. i want to leave soon too..

closing the note for today, let's see if i have access tonight to post this piece out

Of Arsenal

2009-07-11T10:24:00.002+08:00

Pre-season is on the way, with injured players such as Rosicky and Eduardo back training, let's hope they can stay fit.. Senderos returns from his loan from Italy to fight for his spot with new signing Thomas Vermaelen..

Pictures from Arsenal Offical website www.arsenal.com

Of Weekends

2009-07-11T09:38:00.002+08:00

Weekends are the prefect time to take a break from work, to recharge, to spend time with wifey, the family and friends which otherwise gets neglected on weekdays..

Kinda funny how i felt funny when friends start telling me to cheer up on the blog.. i usually play that role where i tell people to brighten up.. do i sound depress? am i really facing more problems at work now?

Reservist is due from 20-31 Jul, a good break from work also means that this week and the next at work becomes even more hectic as i strive to clear outstanding work issues and handover those i can't handle in time..

Enjoy your weekends folks!

Of Nothing

2009-07-05T23:00:00.002+08:00

Blog's been quiet.. saying that nothing is going on isn't exactly right, haven't had the energy to rant about work and the tough time that i'm going through..

looking forward to spending 2 weeks at my reservist unit doing some other duties that regulars aren't that keen on doing, bonding with the team and basically having 10 days to seriously shed some weight and get a tan if the weather and duty schedule permits.. and yes, saying hi to friends back in the Ivory tower too.. i'm looking forward to 20Jul already..

home net work is don't and the person fixing it is overseas on holiday and clearly isn't very interested in solving the issue in a effective and efficient manner... does tapping into the net through someone's network my PC located and connected automatically constitute as something illegal?

coming closer and closer to baby's arrival, seems like somethings are always lacking.. lack of space in the house, lack of time to get things done..

oh well, the life of a singaporean, running the rat race at a time where the ricefields are dry and plenty of work to do

have fun, whatever you are doing, wherever you are.. hope you are having it better at work than me..

Of Singapore Flyer

2009-06-21T23:34:00.002+08:00

Of Been Awhile

2009-06-18T22:53:00.004+08:00

Been awhile since i posted anything.. well, there simply wasn't anything interesting enjoy for me to log in and get my fingers going..

time passes quickly and i'm already 4 months into my this week.. its the middle of 2009 and in around 2 months, my son, our little miracle, will see this world and his parents for this first time.. if you havent heard about my kid or haven't seen the blog, its time to find the link on the right column of this page, while you're at it, drop a message on the tagboard yeah

on the home front, i'm hoping for an early handover of keys so that we can begin building and working for a home that belongs to me, wifey and my kid (and he may be joined by a sibling in the future)..

on the job front.. i'm still a learner and i feel that i'm not running on top gear though the load has been ever increased on me.. i guess its hard to move forward quickly when one is laden with mundane and adminstrative task.. my lack of thinking and creatively has also surprised me.. following what was formulated seem the best way to clear the task, creating better solutions just mean more work, less time to do other things and let's not even mention about the lack of appreciation from people who you are trying to help improve their processes, their performance..

had a tea session with the companies' Chief Operating Officer and SVP Human Resource this afternoon.. it seems like people are just not used to the fact that Executives don't all start their working life with a degree.. yes, i have worked in 4 companies in as many years, on first glance, its fair that you judge me as a job-hopper.. but i took a route less travelled than those privileged enough to get their education sponsored by either the government, their parents or relatives.. i funded by own part-time degree programme and i might not have made in within the time frame if not for the support of my wife.. and for that, i'm thankful of what i have achieved now and grateful for having found someone to share my life, my burdens, my future fruits of labour..

as it is.. i have worked 4 companies now.. the previous 3 were jobs i got with my diploma, jobs which i was certain i made an impact no matter how short or long i stayed.. the civil service was a smooth transition after NS, my direct approach and lack of political guile meant that perhaps the only people who had appreciate my "talents" were my direct boss, her boss, and the NS guys who worked with me.. my 2nd workplace was the worst ever.. my desire to seek private sector experience in the marketing field lead me to this place and here, i experience the worst office politics, worsened by a lazy admin assistant and an egolistic "designer" that works with outsourced design companies.. oh well.. curse those who deserve it, but i made a few friends there too and we still keep in touch, though we could all do better..

my 3rd job lead me to my 4th.. and more importantly, it gave me a glimpse into another segment of the singaporean working adult.. here.. standards were high and majority had a grand education and had equal speaking ability and language power to drown you out.. but just like a coin, there are always two sides and my ability to take the good with the bad, the bad with the good, shows again.. i might not agree with the work we are doing, but i appreciate those who work hard to create real value.. these people were literally living the high life.. spending like i have hardly seen, enjoying life and thus perhaps enjoying work.. daughter of CEO, son of whoever, son of whatever.. they had a good start to life. still, there was a batch of good lads and ladies that i had interacted with, some nicer than others.. friendships were forged and it meant something to me that people appreciate what i was doing and for that moment, i got a sneak preview of what kind of life people on that higher end of society were living.. at times, this same privilege becomes a blindess to the suffering of others, the plight of the less fortunate.. i don't expect them to understand.. its just different when you are not living it..

so now, back to my tea session.. working in a place that is under a bigger company that deals more in properties definitely means that much has to be learnt.. the tea session started as sort of a clear-the-air session as the bosses' standard questions like "first job?" "how many places have you worked before joining us?" were the order of the day..

as the session grew and you heard someone earning potentially 10times your pay speak about strategic directions and company policies.. it all seem to make sense how one differentiaties investment properties, asset enhancement, amongst others..

this post is getting awfully long and i'm deeply surprise you have kept your attention.. just to end this off, i quote my COO:

"here, we run our business not by luck, but by skill"

now to work towards my Confirmation in august and work my ass off hoping for a good June 2010 bonus!

Of Impressive Stuff

2009-06-11T00:31:00.001+08:00

Star Wars Old Republic E3 2009 Cinematic Trailer

Of Burnout?

2009-06-07T22:32:00.000+08:00

The Four Stages of Burnout

Hey, before throwing up your hands, remember...burnout is not for wimps. A lot of other folks would have jumped ship much earlier. Many of you reach the farther stages of burnout because of your tenacity and dedication. You have a strong sense of responsibility and don't like being deterred from reaching your goals. All noble qualities...unless compelled by rigid perfectionism and "there's only one right way" thinking. Then, pursuing your goals takes a back seat to proving others wrong and overcoming humiliation. You are chasing (maybe, also, being chased by) ego-driven egoals. Especially in times of overload, uncertainty and major change, "driven and rigid responsibility" can quickly transform a performance benefit into a personal and professional liability.

Also, these folks are usually not just responsible, they often are quite responsive to others. People lean on them for support. Are you a pillar of strength for those around you? If so, will those dependent upon you be quick to notice when you are feeling shaky? That you may need a shoulder? Often not, as their sense of security is contingent on your always being strong and available. Are you buying into this "superperson" role or hiding behind a heroic mask? Maybe you always had to help mom with (sometimes raise) the other kids. Or you're the emotional sponge in the office, frequently absorbing your colleagues' complaints. Can you hear that screeching, scratching sound? That's the stress knot twisting and turning tighter and tighter about your neck.

Are you burnout?

Of Congrats

2009-05-31T22:11:00.002+08:00

Loads of well wishes to a squadmate who got married over the weekend, this was a wedding that took over a year to plan and all was well on the afternoon.

It was another prefect opportunity to see the folks again and although not everyone was present, it was good company and the squad of 39ers reunited for tallie's wedding..

With most of us at 26, each of the guys are at different stages of our live.. i'm becoming a father in august, likewise another guy from the squad.. one of the squadmates is already a dad for a few years while another is engaged and having his wedding in Dec 2010.. my bunk buddy is holding his wedding in July 2010 while another squadmate was uncovered when one of us spotted his wedding photos in facebook..

To the folks that are finding jobs, establishing themselves in their careers, finding their way in their lovelife or studying more to further their knowledge and skills, all the best!

We are the 39'ers forever!

Of Mr Brown Rox

2009-05-29T22:44:00.001+08:00

mrbrownshow.com - Wash Your Hands Too (Parody of Wonder Girl's 'Nobody')

Of 369

2009-05-26T22:38:00.002+08:00

Post 369.

Typed a long piece on notepad over lunch in office but decided against putting it up.. started monday rather badly on the work front.. not because of mistake, but at the lack of appreciation of the bigger picture.. oh well, dropped that for now..

Having passed the 3months mark, the quarter review is due.. work has been the order of the day, week and month, and let's not even worry about the physical strain.. this amount of outstanding in this field is so overwhelming that the mental resources required to keep myself going is exhausted almost on a daily basis..

looking at the last few weeks, i missed the days where i wake up feeling fresh and have that energy and drive to turn up at work and feel good through the day.. the workload is evergrowing and the administrative work is holding me.. it could be psychological, but my computer seriously feels slow and i'm quite sure my system isn't as new as what the friendly IT fellow claimed..

on the home front, have been fighting against myself to bring too much negativity back home to wifey, i'm sure she's aware of my inner struggles and i'm grateful and appreciative of the patience and understanding that she has shown through the last 3 months.

as it is, i hope this is just a purple patch that i'm going through and that it wouldn't last.. would things be better after Great Singapore Sale? Would things be better after the events and things that i need to run?

can i just mention that one colleague does get on my nerve and that i'm sick of how mediocrity is accepted as a norm?

yeah i'm not in the best of mood and that's not the best mood to be in

Of Thingsweforget

2009-05-18T23:30:00.006+08:00

All the worries of everyday pass us by, what are the things we forget?

A special guy with a special way of getting his message across is moving silently through Singapore, reminding each and everyone of us of the little things that we forget..

take a moment to reflect on his messages, it might just lead you somewhere..

from his site:

Of Trooping

2009-05-15T23:25:00.001+08:00

Why i want to be a Storm Trooper

Of Switching off

2009-05-11T21:38:00.002+08:00

I switched off the telly twice this month.. the first, a champions league semi-final 2nd leg against Manchester United and the second occasion - the 3rd last league game of the season, my 4th placed arsenal against 3rd place Chelsea..

The problem this time is, i switched off before the game was even over.. both instances even before the half-time whistle.. the result was painful and perhaps it was this pain that lead to my dejection, dejected and disappointed enough to not bear to watch it anymore...

As it is, the final 2 games of the season for Arsenal has nothing to play for.. We faced Manchester United again for the 4th time this season, they are chasing the league title.. winning their game against Arsenal will secure the league title for the champions elect.. whether we win or lose mean little to us.. there's all but pride to play for..

i'm taking distance away from the performance.. we simply didn't play like we should and could.. we did well against chelsea in the first 20mins.. we were never up to the mark against manchester united.. such is the gulf..

for those who don't watch football, you might be buffered at how fans like me follow the game and get affected by it.. but this beautiful game is part of life and in life.. you set expectations and you get disappointed and downhearted by the results don't go your way..

such is football

Of ill again

2009-05-05T18:29:00.002+08:00

Just as i declared that i will survive, i was brought down by illness... i'have always been trouble by respiratory ailments and this time round, a combination of cough and blocked nose took me out for 2 days.. 2days MC is a good break in my hectic work life, but work takes over when u start checking on your email on the first day of MC and call back to office to 'settle things" on the second morning while on medical leave..

as it is, the next 3 days will probably be just as hectic as 5days since all the leftover work has to be cleared.. do one draw the line and decide where to stop or would it be an endless chase towards work that can never be fully completed?

With the H1N1 virus abound, my flu n coughing will not be treated kindly when i return to office.. with masks apparently out of stock, i couldn't be bothered to visit the pharmacy to try and get one either..

just some rantings on the second day of my MC..

Denson is well and active inside mummy's tummy, especially in the evening when we lay on our bed to watch tv.. speaking of bed, we are eyeing SIMMONS mattress for our place, waiting for bargains during the Great Singapore Sale to close the deal.. flat should be ready somewhere between July-Sep.. hoping for an early handover in June, taking the keys on 20June will always be surreal..

till then, live well and prosper

Of Backz

2009-04-30T23:04:00.002+08:00

If you have been checking out this page often enough and observed that there isn't any update, thanks for coming back again and again, i'm really happy that someone bothers reading what i write, what i have in my mind..

So, work has been the order of the day, order of the week, order of the month.. into my 3rd month into my current job, the traditional honeymoon period is well and truly over.. an event that took last then 4 weeks to plan and execute was concluded today, and it was not without hiccups...

as with events, i always enter the fray with a negative approach, planning for contingencies and expecting worse.. Murphy's Law always applies, more so when you are 3 months into your job and things that could have been covered by initiative by others were sorely lacking..

at the end of it all, it seems like medicoracy was acceptable.. and thus, it was the case.. so, what went wrong?

Equipment and IT - Testing the equipment the day before is no guarantee that it won't play a trick on you 30mins before the event.. as always though, the problem is solved without actually knowing why.. when the function-F7 decides to work, its does, that's nothing one can do to ensure otherwise

Ushering - where initiative should have been a norm, i was surprised by initiative being an exception in this case.. point to note: if someone ask you to usher people to seat in a theatre, they don't mean random placement, ushering is about politely convincing people that the front seats are the best, central seats provide the best view, there's no people with that person sitting there, please fill up that space instead of leaving gap every 2 person.. oh yes and finally, ushering means telling people that seats with stickers bearing words such as "WINNER", "CEO", "MD(CS)", "Dir(AM)" and RESERVED are actually, truly and really: Reserved. Please do not seat if you are not any of the aboved..

Slides - When you are an external speaker invited to speak at an event so that you can make more business, DO NOT approach the OIC of the event 10mins before the start of the event with you thumbdrive requesting for a new version of the slides to be loaded.. nope, bringing the Director of your company with you to put pressure on this OIC which is only an executive has no impact on him, especially not when he is having technical problems with this laptop(read above)

Speaker - in this case, OIC's boss' boss which is effectively his boss, please pay attention to visual cues to slow down.. i'm sorry for waving and giving you signals that seem confusing.. but then, there isn't much i can do to get your attention when you go that fast and decide to stop looking at my direction

Food - don't ever believe when the person in-charge of the venue tells you that the caterers are reliable.. CATERERS CANNOT KEEP TO TIME, CATERERS CANNOT KEEP TO TIME, CATERERS CANNOT KEEP TO TIME. but then again, no one expected the event to end 15mins earlier when we started 15mins late.. (refer to point on speaker)

So that's it, a first event that i was fully in charge of.. i worked so late this week that the taxi charges went over $50 for this week alone..

Oh yes, may i add that in the 4 years that i have worked, this is the first place where after an event of such scale (CEO-level invite, 200guests(only 120+ turned up)).. you don't get to rest.. you head back to office with tons of emails to read, tons to emails that you have read the past 2 weeks but had been to busy to follow up, MP to clear for event, contracts to sign, floorplans to approve, emails to reply, proposals to review, enquiries to attend to, cheques to chase, deposits to return, posters to put up, sites to visit, table to pack, phonecalls to answer..

yes, i'm just a 3-month old baby in this company.. I will survive

Of This Week

2009-04-24T23:24:00.001+08:00

Took leave and spent the day with wifey, starting with a visit to gynae to take a look at Denson, all is well so far, cooked dinner for the night. The hot weather sucks.

For the rest of the week, there is one fitting word to summarise everything.

WORK.

Of Pissed Off

2009-04-19T22:38:00.002+08:00

Just how many more cans of worms are we going see? Why is it that everything a charity organisation gets into trouble, there's always more beneath the current?

Why does GIC, funded by government funds i.e. SINGAPOREAN'S MONEY, is allowed to loan $560,000 to a staff? Why does that same staff need to borrow $60,000 from Ren Ci instead of the banks? This very same person is now an MP of some of you out there.. a PAP MP serving in Marine Parde, my GRC although i'm miles away from Marine Parade and can't even remember how to get there..

This sucks.

Vote wisely. Please.

Of Blind Man

2009-04-13T21:07:00.001+08:00

This is not a religious post. This is not a religious post.

Heard over a programme some days ago:

"A blind man who asks god for one eye is rewarded with two"

Herein lies a deeper meaning that involves expectations, unexpected rewards and results, amongst others.

Expectations.

If you were a blind man or woman and there being a chance that you could recover your sight. Would you be thinking day and night of having an eye back, or two? Most of us would have declared the latter, a pair of eyes to bring sight back into our world.

For the man in question to ask only for an eye, this shows us that more often than not, we ask for more than wat we really need, sometimes denying others in the process.

Unexpected rewards.

He asked for one but got two instead. It's kind of corny to talk about this now but at first though, the childhood yoodie of "yao wu mao, gei yi kwai, ni shuo qi kwai bu qi kwai?" (translate: asked for 50cts but given a dollar, isn't it strange?". Ok, lets get back.

When you go out seeking for one, sometimes you get rewarded by 2. Good deal.

For some people, they are simply happy with the status quo and thus make no effort to aim for anything else, people who come from the "appreciation what you have and ask for nothing more" school..

So now, if the blind man(or woman) is you, what would you do? Ask for none, one eye or two?

Of Wigan 1-4 Arsenal

2009-04-11T23:56:00.002+08:00

An hour into the game, it looked again like an Arsenel team that just fail to gun down oppositions in the mid-half of the table.. then 1 min later, walcott scored and suddenly it looked like the will be better! Not..

It took a 10min interval, the move was started from a throw-in, the ball well-control by ashravin and sent through the legs of a wigan defender to find fabregas who drilled it across goal hoping to pick out someone to finish it off.. the ball went pass adebayor and silvestre of all people popped up to score the winner. 1-2 to arsenal

And by the last 10mins of the game, it was arsenal all the way as ashravin struck the post to allow van persie to score the subsequent offside goal before ashravin arrived in the box on the 90th minute to intercept a ball in the box and finish calmy. Song, defensive midfielder by position, dribbled into the box, beat his marker and hit it low to make it 4.

I love the way we play, when we play it well

Of Friends

2009-04-06T22:12:00.006+08:00

*Updated

Inspired by a question from a friend: "isnt it hard to have good friends the older u get ?"

Well, of course it is. While we were younger, so young that we barely need to attend school, we could smile at every kid, laugh at every cartoon and chase people around the playground regardless of race, age or identity.. we didn't have a care in the world..

As we got older, we had friends in class, almost everyone in the class were friends. We could have spoken little but still, there were no distinction between classmates or friends...

Somehow along the way, we changed. Yes, we changed. We started branding a smaller group of friends as "best friend(s)", we became exclusive and didn't want others closer to us, we draw invisible circles around ourselves and prevented people who seek friendship from getting close. We set up the barriers around ourselves and stood at the narrow gate, adamant on who gets in and out.

As we got older, most of us drop this friends from the primary school, we felt silly for having "best friends" and stayed away from them as we enjoy the new company of friends in secondary school. These people had other things to talk about, they were more fun to be with. Meeting up with the primary school friends became a chore and someone has to be "arrowed" to organise a gathering. Gatherings became few and far.

By the time we left secondary school, we had a set of good friends, a set of not-so-good friends, and a bigger set of people we don't even bother about.. as we meet more people later in life who are know someone we knew.. we struggle to remember and refrained from acknowledging these "friends" that we had when we were still in uniform..

So, "isnt it hard to have good friends the older u get ?"

Or have we made it harder for good friends to find us?

*Invitation to Blog

***Hey peeps, you folks who have your own blog that reads me. Give the same topic a go and i'll link the post up here, wha'ts your take?

"isnt it hard to have good friends the older u get ?"

Soapy "

As far as self introductions go which I have been doing quite alot lately trying to break out of an old mold, meeting new people is more like an opportunity

The Friend from Pri Sch

the whole class (or rather the majority) used to rush to the carpark to play improvised baseball when the "All Hell Break Loose" bell rings.

Of Rant again

2009-04-03T23:33:00.003+08:00

Postedit: With the advice of a close friend, i have decided to remove/censor certain names in the following post to prevent the post from being used for defamation suits. Such is the fear that encroach our lives in this tiny island that even i, as a blogger, cannot write freely and openly. For fear of political suppression and reprise.

I have steered about from political related post for awhile.. but i guess it was always a matter of time before i return with a post..

So what now? Teo made DPM, first female min for SG.. self-renewal??? I would have said "i laughed my arse off", but on hindsight, its not funny at all, the only people that are laughing are probably those who were promoted, not because of rank, but like because of the underlying pay rise that they are getting.

Let's do a count
1x Mineester Mentos

2x Senile Mineester

1x Prima Mineester

2x Depthduty Mineester

That's a freaking 6 senior members that sits in the cabin!

Now why would a country our size, with our GDP, need so many top level guys to govern? Wait a minute, i haven't counted the Mineesters yet!

Traditionally, ministers hold portfolios, because, well, that's why you need Ministers right? To manage work and portfolios. Defence, Finance, Education, Manpower, Health, Community Youth and Sports, u name it.. but Mineester, Prima Mineester Office?

Our Mineester, Prima Mineester Office are
Lim Ah Heng
Lim Ah Say
Lim Ah Hua

How come all Lim uh? Lim ah lim ah

So u need 3 mineesters in to help the Prima Meenister to work in his Office!

Underneath it all, what does a big-size cabin means? Ask the man on the street, if you have a football club, how many Manager you need to manage? Real Madrid, Arsenal, Man Utd, Selangor FC, Home Utd, Geylang FC, still 1 manager right? Would you want to have 2 managers-calibre people helping to run the club? Would it work? How about 3? 4? 5? Its like asking Arsene Wenger to work alongside Martin O'Neill, David Moyes, Ramos, Hiddink etc!

Most importantly, the wage bill.. how much does it cost for a tiny country like us to maintain and pay for the wages of these top men that are governing or helping the "top man" to govern?

Would such a heavy cabin-nette help to make things easier for the man on the ground? Would such a big team mean that we, as a small country, can handle global pressures and problems more effectively? Can the same be achieved with lesser people? At lesser cost?

I wonder and cringe at the thought of it all..

I know i'm whipping an old horse, but sometimes, we just play the games we used to play:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A senior White House official on Tuesday admitted he was floored by the news that Singapore's prime minister earned five times more than US President George W Bush.

"I'm going to emigrate and run for office in Singapore," the official said on condition he be identified only as "a senior administration official who sits in disbelief after reading that story."

On Monday, the Singapore government had announced a fresh 25.5 percent pay hike for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, boosting his salary to 2.05 million dollars per year.

Bush gets paid 400,000 dollars per year for doing his job, according to the White House.

Combined with personal investment income, he and his wife Laura reported 618,694 dollars in taxable income in the 2005 fiscal year. They had to pay 187,768 dollars in federal taxes.

But maybe Bush shouldn't feel so bad. The Singaporean's paycheck is eight times fatter than Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's.

Of Friday

2009-03-27T22:39:00.001+08:00

With his back rested again the hard plastic seat, he looked up at the door like he always do, he has always thought that the familar sound of those doors closing after the beeping signals an end to his work day.

Glancing around, he is well aware that people will start streaming in when the door opens again. He closes his eyes to shelter from the bright lights, clearing his mind of the outstanding task he left behind.

Of This Morning

2009-03-26T23:39:00.000+08:00

With his head erect, he glanced into the screen which brings so much of the world to him. Fingers, spread out stylishing over the keyboard gives comparision to a pianist serenading those who care to listen..

Instinctively, he knew what every pressure would create and the crew of 10 work together at the commands of their master. He loves the feeling of typing with a melody in his head, of not having to pause for what's next, of being able to flow with ease, the intermediate beat of the spacebar serving the base to the melody of the moment..

Back to work.

Of Barrage

2009-03-22T22:17:00.011+08:00

A place built with more than one purpose

For different people

With one view in mind

Of The Draw

2009-03-20T20:37:00.000+08:00

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
QUARTER-FINAL DRAW

• Villarreal v Arsenal

• Manchester United v FC Porto

• Liverpool v Chelsea

• Barcelona v Bayern Munich

Of Reads

2009-03-19T22:44:00.002+08:00

It takes something for people to write like that, is it a talent or a skill to be learnt? I have no idea.

I enjoy reading good writing, they bring me into another world for a moment and it drags you into a world of emotions, soft background music and vivid images in the mind. I like.

Sometimes i wish my writing can bring that same effect to my readers ditto what good writing from others have done to me. I wish.

For now i share with you a beautiful piece on departing, while i link her up onto my blog. I share.

Earlier, we sat side-by-side tucking into a mini feast we had bought ourselves in the airport canteen. "It's almost time to go," you said quietly. Your face was passive, betraying the sadness you told me you felt. Our eyes fixed on each other, I tried to lighten the mood by being silly: "How do you look in someone's eyes? Which eye do you look at?" You just smiled weakly.

We made our way up towards the departure hall, and as we waited for the lift, I pressed my nose against you, trying to take in your smell - the one I love so much. Your mom told us to take a photo before you were to go through the doors flanked by airport personnel. I put my arm around you, not knowing whether to smile - it would be a lie if I did. A tight hug and a kiss later, I found myself watching you walk away. No desperate clutching or crying like the picture I concocted in my head leading up to this moment. I tried to disassociate myself from what was happening, not wanting to cry in public and in front of your family.

I stared out the window in the car ride home, the buildings whizzed by and my mind was a blank. Upon reaching my front gate, I thanked your dad for the ride home and said my goodbyes to your family. I stopped in the living room to pick my cat up for a quick cuddle, and in an empty voice (and still-dry eyes), told my brothers that you had just left. Getting my usual mug of water from the kitchen, I wearily trudged my way up to my bedroom. I locked the door behind me, dropped my bag onto the floor, and flopped onto my bed. I picked up your T-shirts, the ones that couldn't fit into your luggage and still smell of you, pressed them to my face, and the tears started to flow.

This is her

Of Waiting

2009-03-16T21:11:00.000+08:00

Warms hands tightened around the cold hard steel, there were people everywhere and that made breathing hard to do. She cast her glance low, avoiding the others that stood around her, each in their own world. She is not alone, those that occupy the space just before her attempted to avoid eye-contact, there was something they knew yet they tried their darn best to conceal that knowledge, to play dumb to that inner voice in their heads. This is not new to her at all, there's something about these people that she's starting to recognise..

Deep in her mind, she asked her how she should feel, unsure if any negative emotions to the outside world would affect the life she is carrying. She reserves her judgement on others as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Sometimes she wished she could read the minds of these before her so that she can just curse them in her mind and not worry about being wrong.

To be continued..

Of Opportunities

2009-03-11T21:51:00.002+08:00

3 weeks into my work, an event that was planned for the end of April has been unexpectedly brought forward to the end of this month.. 10 days into march, this simply means that there isn't much time to get things down.. go go go!

At work, the ability to perform does not always mean that one gets the associated opportunity to test one's abilities against the challenges, so i should be glad that i have such a chance this early into my work to prove myself.. but then again, this event isn't exactly that super high level or that difficult to plan and execute for that matter..

every work situation is an opportunity to learn and do better.. as Mr Lim Swee Say puts in, be better, betterer betterest.. yes he said that, i was just that close when he said it over the mic on that stage.. so yeah, that's our Secretary General of NTUC and Minister, Prime Minister's office for you.. go figure

wish me luck for the 31 March event yeah, game on

Of Sublime Skill

2009-03-09T21:45:00.001+08:00

When u can finish the ball off like that, you belong to a special class of players. This is what separates the pretenders from the actual stars

Of Peace and Rest

2009-03-05T23:00:00.001+08:00

NTU student stabs professor and falls off building.. He was a loner.. He had his ASEAN scholarship terminated... He plays online games... His family did not have problems financing his studies..

I admit i was one of the first to comment that this fellow is a nutcase when i first heard news about his stabbing of his professor, sliting of his wrist and then jumping(of falling) off the building in NTU..

as the days went by, i hear of news reports about how he was, how he fared in school and all of this news just paint him in such a negative light that is sickening.. its sickening that someone as young as 21 with a decent future has been pushed to an end where he had armed himself with a kitchen knife in his professor's office and he had to slit his wrist before jumping to really make sure that that would be all.. its more sickening how the local mainstream media is throwing news around to make NTU seem like a godly place it which this student did not belong, as though he was not really part of them in the first place..

what good would it do for his family on knowing that 3 warning letters were sent by NTU? Its just bullshit and why the hell did the reporter had to cover this? That financial problem was no

the reason? That poor result in school was the reason?

I'm so sick of all this crap from our newspapers and mainstream shit..

Solace, i found online

The unfortunate central character has a name, David Widjaja. Online, he has a moniker like i do, he used the name "Manji" in his online multiplayer games.. people who have played with him or "met" him online painted a very different picture of David:

He was such an awesome friend really smart and funny. I known him a long time now and we have spent so much time together. He really did have such a nice personality. He stood for what was right he defended players and his personality have shined through. Even though this game is online I saw his real personality by the way he talked and joked around. I am going to miss him a lot and I am going to pray for him. I feel regret that I didn't talk to him about his problems and tried to help him. Last time I talked to him he was having a friendly match with Maka and asked me if I wanted to duel with him. I wish I could have spent my time to talk to him better and get in a core of his problem because now he is gone and it will not be the same without him. He was a big part of this game to all of us a really loved player. I will never forget him and he will always stay in our soul. We miss and love you David (By Mystica)

Majin, thanks for everything... you help me in many ways especially when i don't know how to attend a wedding... thank you for helping me... i promised to invite you also in my wedding, but now i do not know how to accomplish my promise to you....

i lost a friend that i cannot return... your memories will always stay in my mind and in my heart.. thank you very much majin (david).. (By jaslyn000)

really don't have any words to write about it, I was with him on saturday, me, light and ringles were playing around at arena, he took a pic of us and now......!! Everyone who knows me well, knows I get a kind of connection to the people too much easily. We talked too much and much more lately. Once, we were talking about universities and how hard is to get good grades and he told me he didnt know why he had chosen this course, he didnt know if he would finish this, so i said, wait a minute, this is your last year, you need to do that and u will do it well, don't worry. He just told me " I hope so". I didn't realize it was more than that. I'm feeling so unuseful cause I think maybe i could say something else, or try to go deeply into his problems. I had terrible nightmares last night, i couldnt sleep well, I'm just shocked, it was so unfair and kinda selfish from him , for dont think about his family and friends doing such nonsense thing 'cause a lot of people now are suffering, but i wasnt in his soul that time, dont know what was going on his mind, the only thing i know is the world just lost a such great and intelligent person, a good friend and a young person who had a lot of things to do in his life, I'm really sad, im really confuse and dont know what to think .. Jolene, you are very important for him and his predilet subject. I know Im going to miss David too much!! Im praying for his soul and to calm down his family's heart. Rest in peace my friend!! Sorry if i sound nonsense too but im feeling like this, inexplicable!! =(

(By Nanda)

Read the rest here

So here you go, the online platform providing the handful of people who read this blog another side to the story, another view of a man that was painted as such in by the local newspapers..

May he Rest in Peace

Of Suay Merlion

2009-02-28T22:22:00.003+08:00

When times are bad, even our dear Merlion can be struck by lighting!

News channels have all reported about the strike and it seems like they were quite relunctant to show the head of the merlion on the still pictures, so imagine the damage to the merlion!

Maybe the Merlion at Sentosa was too big to strike so they went for the no.2.. lucky no one got hurt.. looking forward to pictures online of the damage done.. no doubt STB will be working overtime to get contractors to fix up the tourist icon immediately, back then when i was working in One Raffles Quay, tourist throng the area on a almost daily basis to snap pictures of the one that throws up into the sea, but now, its a barrage..

wonder if the fengshui experts who told the Singapore Flyer people that they wheel was initially turning in the wrong direction have anything to say about this incident..

So suay(unlucky), Merlion strucked by lighting!

News report from 938 Live:

The original Merlion statue located at One Fullerton was struck by lightning this afternoon, causing quite a commotion.

Claire Huang caught up with some witnesses to find out what happened.

Nature sure knows how to throw a tantrum.

In its fit of anger, Singapore's longstanding original icon - the Merlion, was damaged by lightning flashes.

23 year-old Ms Swee Xueping who was having lunch with 5 other friends said the incident caused a stir.

"So we were actually sitting at Coffeebean, and then we were buying (food) and then we heard a loud thunder sound. Then we saw the lightning which was quite, it's kind of orangey and then there was a commotion, and we heard a loud noise, but we didn't know what actually happened. We were just wondering how come there's this big commotion."

A staff who wants to be known only as Mr Yap said the incident happened between 4 and 5pm.

Mr Yap who works in a shop a few metres away from the damaged statue, describes how some passersby who were stranded in the rain, dashed into the restaurant for cover.

"Something like an explosion sound, very loud. Then after that some of the pieces fell off the Merlion. All the people under the umbrella (3 parasols) ran in, towards our shop. They were scared that there'll be another thunder (lightning) strike."

Mr Yap's colleague Ms Toh said she didn't realise that the lightning had struck the statue until a customer drew her attention to it.

"I heard the thunderstorm and I saw many of the customers running into our outlet. I just heard from a customer then noticed "Hey, why the Merlion's head dropped?""

The explosion, caused by the lightening, created a hole the size of a soccer ball, on the Merlion.

But according to eye witnesses, no one was hurt.

In fact, many passersby and tourists didn't even notice the rubble on the walkway.

The statue is one of five Merlions in Singapore.

The 8.6 metre tall statue was originally located at the mouth of the Singapore River but was moved to Fullerton in 2002.

Of Ally

2009-02-27T22:45:00.001+08:00

For those of us who are old enough to have watched Ally McBeal, you might just remember how the toilet in Ally's firm was like..

Now at my new workplace, its exactly the same as ally's, the ultra-modern, hip, unisex loo.. while, what we have is a toilet that's at the end of the pantry and in it, 2 well-maintained cubicles, side by side that are free for either to genders to use..

would you be comfortable in a loo like that?

drop your comments in here or in the cbox and i'll share more on my thoughts

Of Europe Relief

2009-02-25T21:50:00.002+08:00

It's another night in Europe and another night of good football, fluid movement and a lack of goals.. none in open play in the last 4 games, a string of chances wasted and its 1-0 to Arsenal.. Roma will be glad to return home with a 1 goal deficit, it should have been much more and as a fan, one can only hope that it doesnt return to haunt us in the return leg..

then again.. this performance was so much better, was it the fact that this was europe? that teams don't dumb(pun intended) more fans behind the ball and allows for open play?

Fulham this weekend will provide an indication of where this team wants to play come next year, if i'm with wenger in the dressing room, i'll remind the players that if they enjoyed the game last night, they might not play in the competition come next year.. so we'll see.

Of Arsenal vs Sunderland

2009-02-21T14:46:00.003+08:00

Tonight, my Arsenal will take on RX's sunderland at the Emirates Stadium in the premiership, the last time out, it took a late equaliser from the young guns to savage a point and save some much needed pride..

Now zoom back into reality, Arsenal are 5th place in the table while Sunderland's Asst Mgr has taken over the top job at the club.. with a rejuvenating 4-0 win over Cardiff in the FA Cup, Arsenal looks good towards the game, but take in mind that Cardiff never really turned up for the game and Sunderland won't allow the kind of space we had against the welsh team..

As it is, 2 goal scorer Eduardo is out with a hamstring, the usual absentees are still out, Clichy returns following his gashed head from the North London Derby, this team should turn up for the afternoon:

Van Persie - Bendtner

Nasri - Denilson - Song - Eboue

Clichy - Djouro - Toure - Sagna

Alumunia

Djouro's height is a much needed force against high balls we expect from sunderland, while eboue returns from suspension with not much options on the right flank, he should start the game..

Wenger has spoken that Ashravin (The Owl) will feature, but he isn't sure in what way yet, i'm expecting a substitute appearance for Ashravin if we are holding on to a lead in the 2nd half. His guile and owl eye to pick a pass or that critical opening might just open up the sunderland backline..

Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland

Watch this space for post-match updates

PS: RX, we need the points more, c'mon =)

Of A Week

2009-02-20T21:43:00.002+08:00

In the space of a week, i have gone from being unemployed to playing a part in our economy. My first degree-level executive job, i am actually familar with the people in the company already and currently undergoing some mentorship for the stuff that i need to know in my work..

already, i'm covering some of the work that was leftover from my ex-company's engagement with my current work, hope all goes well..

with regards to my worries about long hours, i do feel that as long as i am able to maintain a consistent high output level within the normal working hours (ie. 8.30am to 6.30pm with an hour lunch in between), i should keep OT to a minimum..as it is, i have worked beyond 7 or 7.30pm on a few days in this 1st week alone..

the next milestone will be my confirmation which will take place in 6 months..

till then, work is placed aside and the weekend beckons.. saturday night will be spent at Modesto's in VivoCity as my ex-colleagues will be coming together to have some sort of a farewell dinner with me

have fun over the weekends

Of Eduardo

2009-02-17T23:15:00.005+08:00

"It was the best day of my life. It was a special moment to score, very emotional"

- Eduardo

Arsenal 4-0 Cardiff, Eduardo with 2 goals.

For those who don't watch football, this guy, Eduardo, suffered a horrific tackle in a football game that left his leg broken, the damage was so bad that TV stations stopped showing replays of the incident, yes, that was how bad it was..

there were fears that he could not longer walk, less play another competitive football match..

it has been almost a year since the injury, and he has returned in triumph, he's first goal coming 20 mins into the game, a header that he helped set up by providing the guy who crossed the ball for him the earlier ball to set it all up. His second, a penalty that he earned, was struck cleanly with his leg foot, the strike could have been safe if the keeper guess right, but 2 goals it is to Eduardo..

when the first went it, it was apparent how much it meant to the player. That look on the face cannot be bought with money and its the look of someone who loves the game and has given his all to come back on the pitch and show passion for the game.

Now his second, a penalty, was celebrated with a clearer intent in mind, all scoring, he ran almost half the pitch towards the stand, he's one target, fitness coach Tony Colbert.

Perhaps we could all learn something from Eduardo, perservance, determination, gratitude, self-belief, prudence and so much more, he could have celebrated as though he owned the world after the night's performance, he could have thumped his chest and kiss the badge, but he ran towards the fitness coach to express gratitude. Now if i was there, i'll be sure that a drop of tear would be evident as a fit-again eduardo jogged away from Tony Colbert - a man who is part of the team but hardly gets the recognition they deserve...

So in our lives, show gratitude to those who have helped you along the way, be generous in thanking people and do it with a sincere heart, its not about an expensive gift or flowery words, its about sincerity, for sincerity can be felt by hearts and only by heart can sincerity be felt

for those facing problems in life, be determined to overcome your problems, to seek the way out and not keep yourself stuck at the current points, move ahead to find that elusive job that is out that, lower your expectations, try other options (eduardo had to play in reserves before he could be considered for first team action), believe in yourself that you can achieve

move ahead and not allow yourself to be stuck with depressed thoughts, do not escape from your troubles, instead, seek help, keep an open mind towards suggestions by others and consider your position

And to Eduardo, cheerios for coming back, i'm sure that the people everywhere are happy for him, not just arsenal supporters, well done, simply well done

Of A New Life

2009-02-15T21:38:00.002+08:00

I have always insisted that the jobs that i had taken so far are jobs, sounds silly? well, its more like this jobs that i worked it would never really make a career, the main reason being that i lacked a degree with i joined, and companies, as much as they would like to keep it in black and white, do not promote people within the organisation that much.. the economy doesn't help things either..

So i started my working life in the civil service and moved to a company that's a fully-owed subsidiary of a GLC and finally moving to an MNC that operates somewhat like a Pte Ltd...

And tomorrow, i'll step into the organisation as a degree-holder and a "proper" executive (i held the executive title in my 2nd job whilst with my diploma) title! The road ahead would be tough as i learn the ropes and juggle between my work and family commitments, its a challenge that i must face and i can only hope that things will go well, and when things don't, that the necessary support comes into place to tide over the dull

meanwhile, i could be cut off from the world of MSN users while at work and i might have limited net access in the early days, as well as the lack of private time to check private emails, facebook and keep track on the ongoings in networld

wish me well in my "new life"

Victoria Concordia Cresit (Victory Through Harmony) and as RX puts it, Huat ah!

Of Money Matters

2009-02-13T11:51:00.005+08:00

New York Times

February 11, 2009

Temasek Holdings Loses 31 Percent of Portfolio

By BETTINA WASSENER

HONG KONG — Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government’s sovereign wealth fund, said Tuesday that the value of its investment portfolio fell by 31 percent of its total, or about $39 billion, from March to November last year, a reflection of the stock market rout set off by the turmoil surrounding American subprime mortgages.

Temasek’s portfolio was worth 127 billion Singapore dollars ($85 billion) at the end of November, down 31 percent from the end of March. Lim Hwee Hua, senior minister of state with the Finance Ministry, confirmed the figures to Parliament on Tuesday, news agencies reported.

The decline was broadly in line with the performance of the world’s stock markets last year — the MSCI World Index fell 38 percent over the same period in American dollar terms, Bloomberg News said.

Temasek, which has a wide-ranging portfolio spanning financial services, telecoms, media, infrastructure and other sectors, is nursing losses from prominent investments that it made in Merrill Lynch and Barclays as it aggressively expanded outside its core Asian market.

Its $5.9 billion investment in Merrill Lynch alone resulted in a loss of more than $2 billion; the shares plunged before the stock was delisted after Merrill’s purchase by Bank of America.

Temasek controls some of Singapore’s best-known companies, including Singapore Airlines and Singapore Telecommunications, and has stakes in global companies like Standard Chartered.

Last week, Temasek announced that its chief executive, Ho Ching, would step down and be replaced by Charles Goodyear, the former chief executive of BHP Billiton, on Oct. 1.

S. Dhanabalan, Temasek’s chairman, said that the decision by Ms. Ho to step down was not linked to performance and that it was too early to determine whether investments made in the last two years would lose out in the long term. Ms. Ho drove the state fund’s expansion outside Singapore with acquisitions in China, Europe and the United States. She is married to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

===================

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the government has sufficient savings built up during this term of government to fund the $20.5 billion Resilience Package he unveiled as well as the resulting record budget deficit of $8.7 billion.

-Channelnewasia, 22 Jan 2009 -Singapore taps into reserves for first time to handle crisis

===================

Temasek's loss estimated at $39billion according to NY Times.

Singapore's buget costing a total of $20.5billion + $8.7billion = $29.2billion

It takes more to recover what Temasek have lost to benefit the 4mil+ population of Singapore!

Of Idle

2009-02-09T16:45:00.002+08:00

A week of rest before i start work at the south part of mainland Singapore, my rest and recreation week is affected by a swollen left gum, a result of a wisdom tooth extraction last thursday..

as it is, i had planned to do plenty of exercise and get under the sun in this week, but my yet to recover wound meant that it is unwise for me to venture into the outdoors and do anything strenous for now..

so i'm idle.. or am i?

monday morning is not a good time to go to the market, some stores are closed, while some open late and the market is at it lowest traffic, both in terms of vendors, foodstuff and customers.. so what am i doing at the market on a monday morning? Making good use of my education in Marketing, i, a marketer, went marketing

tonight fare is a simple one, fried egg with ingredients i'm too lazy to type, fried chicken thigh meat, round spinach with some chinese herb, tofu fishball meatball mincemeat soup.. sounds a little boring, i guess monday is not such a good day to cook afterall..

today happens to be the 15th day and the so-called official last day of the Chinese New Year.. a quick late morning visit to Waterloo street's Guan Yin temple was made and i finally found something that i wanted to buy in the area

I have always taken an active interest in fengshui but the lack of english literature on the topic and my lack of time(maybe determine) meant that there was only so much i could do.. and since some of my readers are fellow boars, you may wish to note that placing a figurine of a Tiger on your workdesk this year is beneficial as you may tap into the luck of your "secret friend" for the year

its almost 5, means more preparation work and more things to do before dinner can be ready.. i'm off, poof~

Of Toto

2009-02-06T22:36:00.005+08:00

My numbers from quick pick, system seven:

10, 19, 24, 25, 27, 35, 45

03, 04, 07, 22, 26, 32, 44

Tonight's winning numbers:

06, 14, 15, 28, 37, 43

additional number: 24

Congratulations to the winners, you guys are damn lucky man, use the money for some charity too, spread the love to those around you, esp the less fortunate!

Another $7 bucks cheated..

Wisdom tooth surgical extraction on thursday evening cost me a whopping $1116! It's freaking expensive, around 70-80% might be claimable from Medisave, what's more ridiculous is that i have to pay admin fee.. why can't i use my medisave freely and fully for MY medical treatment? Haiz.. and i turned down the 5-day MC simply because i don't have an employer to submit it to..

Oh, i signed my life away on wednesday afternoon, not sure if the heavy rain was any indication of what's coming ahead.. work starts on 16 Feb, coupled with the recovery time from my wisdom tooth extraction, that means i don't really have that much days to rest and recreate.

Got to go for another pre-employment checkup, this is my 4th medical checkup sponsored by a company that wants to employ me, ie this is my 4th job in as many years..

may things be smooth, wish me luck

meanwhile, need to get over the wounds in my gums left by the 2 big molars(one was sliced into 2 before pulling out).. i miss proper food already!

Of Decision Dateline

2009-02-02T22:50:00.002+08:00

In keeping with the English Premiership transfer dateline, i have also made a decision on my future.. i have decided to make full use of my background knowledge that i have earned from my Diploma in Marketing as well as my Bachelor of Commerce with double majors in Marketing and Advertising..

I expect long hours and heavy workload, so while the pay isn't as good as i would like it to be, the fact remains that this job brings money and my focus now is to learn the rope and then improve on my time-management so that i don't have to work crazy hours

Wish me luck...

By the way, i havent signed on the dotted line yet.. should do that within this week, last day at my current job is tomorrow..

++++

Wisdom tooth serial no.3 and serial no.4 has struck, having gone through the extraction last June, i have yet another impacted wisdom tooth on my lower molar which requires the same strategy of cut open gum, break the tooth and extract the parts out.. Same story, but i'hv been through it before, so let's hope it isn't more painful than before and i can start eating decently.. 5 days of MC wasted completely thanks to being jobless.. oh well..

++++

Have fun

Of Ox, Bull and Cow

2009-01-28T22:22:00.002+08:00

I'm starting work on the 4th day of the Ox year, incidently, i have 4 days left with my current company starting tomorrow.. Come 3rd Feb, i'll be officially done with my current job for my 1 year contract as a Project Coordinator

It is indeed a bad time to be jobless, well still within the "15 days of Chinese New Year" being without a job might not be such a good thing.. however, i'm somewhat lucky that i have one and a half job offers that has come my way..

Option 1 involves joining the "client" that i have served while in my current job. While the job scope would be relevant to my degree and has somewhat room for expansion and development, the massive job scope, workload as well as long hours meant that things will not be easy. On top of that, the offer did not meet my expectations.. to me, its quite certain that if i'm doing so much more, then all the more i should be paid in relation to my job scope, load and hours.. oh well..

Option 2, which is half a deal, will see me in a supervisory role, with some aspects of a Management Trainee thrown in. It is an industry that few will expect me to be interested in, likewise there is still some stigma as to the image of the job holders under the company flag.. though i haven't had anything official from this company, the basic salary + allowance paints a slighter better picture than Option 1. The major minus being that what i do in this company will have little to do with what i am doing now and what i have studied...

To be honest, i feel that i should be able to perform in both jobs, the issue here is, to what extend would i need to push myself in the job and what sort of returns can i expect for my effort? Would the hard work in Option 1 give me sufficient returns? Would taking up Option 2 mean that i'm stuck in a niche industry that would cut short my options in future?

Questions, questions and more questions... its like choosing between an Ox, a Bull and a Cow.

There are plenty of considerations regarding the job as well as what to expect in terms of my private life in 2009, time is running out, i need to sort this out soon!

Quote for the day:

Don't miss the donut by looking through the hole

Of Foot balls

2009-01-23T08:29:00.000+08:00

i haven't blogged about football for awhile.. well, there simply wasn't enough good news to share and the bad news didn't hit me well enough to rattle on about anything..

FA Cup action sees a break to the league, with Arsenal lying at 5th place, 3pts behind aston villa. All talk of winning the league now seems unlikely, but if Prof Wengers insists we are still in it, then we... actually, forget about the title..

for a club like arsenal, playing in the Champions League is absolutely vital, the TV money, the chance for the likes of van persie, fabregas, walcott and clichy to be tested against europe's elite..

On the other hand, the January transfer window has been rather "quiet" for arsenal.. a couple of kids left on loan early on and it was "quiet" in a way that no one came in while talk about Andrei "The Owl" Ashravin continues to drag into the the 3rd week of the transfer window
We know we need someone, but we will not pay indecent prices.. 14mil for Bellamy? 14mil for Palacios? Palacios who right? Haha.. he's a decent winger from wigan, he did well for me in FM08, i havent seen him play this season to judge him

As it is, this is the last working day before CNY and i just wanted to start the day another way

Go Gunners!

Of Sleeping

2009-01-19T20:27:00.000+08:00

It's funny how i have always found it hard to sleep in class.. despite not paying much attention when the going goes boring, i have never really remember being able to fall asleep in class..

like in secondary school, as bored as i was with the chinese lessons, sleeping in class was something that i would attempt unsuccessfully.. one Mr Png, who taught me my chinese(or lack of it) would nicely declare that those who were not interested just sleep and not bother the class and others.. that declaration will happily seep the energy of some in the class and they would appreciate the 30-60min nap amid the incessant speech from the old chinese teacher..

but for me, i would sometime rest my head but be unable to enter into any sleep, instead, i would doodle on my chinese textbook or read about other stuff or some other textbook, such as my literature text.. somehow, if i had substitute my A maths in upper secondary with literature, i would have a certificate that i'll be prouder of.

a couple of years down the road, in a classroom in thomson where hot-blooded young men with their heads shaven sat, there was another gentleman that was keen to pass his knowledge to us.. waking up at 0530hrs and running half of thomson and returning to the academy for a 0900hrs lecture for the next 2 hours isn't the best condition to be in.. so people were expected to sleep and he was lenient about it.. but for me, despite my tiredness, could never fall asleep.. maybe that's why the legal knowledge in me remains strong till this day..

now, there might be something about me being unable to sleep while sitting in a classroom position.. i have dozed off completely while on bus and mrt rides..

so maybe it has something to do with people talking in front of me.. my mind picks up the message that something is being communicated and though i'm not interested, my mind is inclined to decipher the message and keep itself awake

Wake me up, when september ends... now that's totally random

Of Call of Due..due

2009-01-15T00:54:00.002+08:00

I'm on reservist on 15 & 16 Jan, so you won't see me online and the chance of me replying to your email speedily is rather low..

i'm on course, and the first day's programme runs from 0830 to 2130.. will be end on time? welcome to the force

Of Interview wheel

2009-01-14T21:42:00.001+08:00

Alright folks,

i'm still writing this while things are still fresh in my mind and i'm quite fiesty about all this as well..

first things first, i attended the interview for Marcom Executive at Company V this evening. What i did not expect was for my interview to involve 2 rounds, 1st with the Company V management and 2nd round with a HR representative(i was later told she's an executive) from Company V's parent company, which does Company V's HR..

Round 1 - Ding ding

While, round 1 went quite well, standard questions about what i did, why i left and when they did ask if i applied for other positions, i was honest in revealing that i did, though they were not necessarily marcom related.. my greatest concern, however, was whether i was really ready to be working OT almost everyday and working on weekends on a regular basis.. i like the way how the General Manager ended by reminding me how i was never obliged to take on the job despite working with them on one of their projects under my current company (ie. i serve Company V for this project in which i'm the coordinator from my office)

Round 2 - BRING IT ON

Okie, this is the first time that i attended an interview that had no HR sitting in and on top of that, HR interview you separately after the management is done.. but having gone through the interview, perhaps the management wanted to spare themselves the agony of listening to a HR personnel TRYING to ask smart questions or trying their best to make recruitment look reasonable.. while, common sense can be quite uncommon after all..

so back to this scenario.. what went wrong?

perhaps she (yep, just one person from HR interviewed me, an executive i later heard) was trying to use negative questions to test my reactions, perhaps she wasn't sure how she should have approached with her questions, perhaps she is new and it was late into the late late afternoon that she was thinking about dinner more than my job, perhaps she's just darn crappy

i'll not list everything down because i'm lazy

but look here, we spoke about handling some aspects of customer service under the Marcom executive job scope and i was fine with that, but when she spoke about managing customer service officers on a daily basis, it just seem to have gone off-course.. the next best thing after i clarify and got affirmation that i was applying for marcom exec? she commented:

"i'm concerned about your lack of leadership experience, you might have problems implementing things and managing the customer service officers on a day-to-day basis.."

LACK
OF
LEADERSHIP
EXPERIENCE

ok lah, i have never managed customer service officers before and it was never my intention to manage them in the first place, but lack of leadership? let me see..

i guess being Head of Training, Sec 3 Squad Commander and Overall-in-charge of your secondary school NPCC unit and earning the Best Unit Cadet and Outstanding CCA Award in Sec 4 wasn't much of a deal, being Station Inspector doesn't really matter either right..

i'm sure whatever i did when i was in the Singapore Police Force for my NS as an inspector has little or no contribution towards leadership experience, well.. maybe not when all i had to do was to do almost everything regarding recruitment eh?

let me see, i'm sure having 5 NSF under me when i was working in the SPF as a Management Support Officer, managing their daily workload, doing their training needs analysis, performance appraisial etc doesn't count towards leadership qualities..

and what else do i not have? hmm, i guess being the Officer Commanding(OC) of a team of NSmen at reservist doesn't add anything to my leadership experience either

ohh.. she had this to add after i tried explaining how my experience in NPCC and the Police(as MSO) could help me should i be called upon a supervisory position:

"you also lack supervisory experience in your last 2 jobs"

oh yeah, i'm sure all employers out there are ready to develop their diploma holders and give them assistants or staff to supervise while in their jobs.

FAIL

okie, this post is getting long, so just one more example where she asked if i applied for other jobs

i honestly replied that i'm also looking at some Account Executive positions and i was also interview for a Operations related position.. and guess what?

She "why you want to do accounts exec"?
Me: "well, the AE job is somewhat like my current job where i service the client"
She looks super confused
I got it
Me: "accounts exec as in AE in marketing agencies"
She continues to look super confused, in fact most so.. and on reflection, i swear she was flipping my certificates to find something that reads Accounting & Finance of ACCA
Me: "accounts executive as in client-servicing in marketing agencies?"
She "oh.. OH.."

I'm still not sure if she got it

EPIC FAIL

So if you are one of those who are wondering if i had a good interview or not..

my answer is.. good and very bad..

go figure

Of An Update

2009-01-13T23:51:00.003+08:00

You know, sometimes i wonder how to start a blog post, some people prefer to talk about some recent or start by a meaningful quote or some sensational news of the day, others put up a picture to provoke some thought, while the rest complain about how hard it is to start a post..

for me, i wonder constantly who actually reads my blog.. i have a few friends on the list that visits on a somewhat regular basis and there's those who would leave a comment on the post or a simple message on the cbox

which brings me to the mean point of today's post

i'm going to be jobless in exactly 21 days, with 3rd Feb my official last day in my current office.. i'll have plenty of time to reflect on my 12months journey in my current job and await a better beginning wherever i could end up with..

as of now, i have attended only 1 interview for a job that is unrelated to my studies (marketing) and i'll already scheduled for a 2nd interview for this job.. today, i received another call from a company that i work very closely now and i'll be placed on the interview grill tomorrow again

what makes a job attractive? the nature of work, the remuneration package, the direct supervisor, the office people/culture, the opportunities for advancement?

At times like this, its a misery to be a job-hunter..

one friend made this statement about jobs: in this current time, your boss will tell you having a job is a bonus!

for those of you who are on a permanent placement in your office, appreciate that you are somewhat ensure that you will continue to work in this company unless some drastic happen.. for fellow job seekers like myself, exercise patience, hope onto your guns and don't stop sending those resumes out..

even if you don't get a call, even if you don't get an offer.. just carry on trying

Never Give Up

Of The number 625

2009-01-09T05:26:00.000+08:00

I'm hitting 26 this year. I started working in 2005 and this is technically my 4th year in the workforce. I shuddered to think that i could be working till i'm 62 and i sigh when i hear of our Prime Minister's plan to "encourage" older workers to work another 3 more years, till 65! At a lower pay!

62 minus 26, what irony, i have 36 more years in the workforce? Wow

Imagine my CPF when i'm 65 and finally retired, would i have the savings that can match a minister's one month salary? Would i be able to go for a 15k culinary course with my family? Would i feel rich when i look at my CPF?

Imagine the things i can do when i retire, i can travel the world, visit the football stadiums in the UK and Europe, i can visit my ancestoral home back in China(well, i might or might not), i can revisit Curtin University in Perth with my wife, i can buy my dream mini-cooper, i can finally fly in a helicopter, dive under the sea, dive from the sky from an aeroplane, learn to fly a plane, drive my kids to work!

but wait.. i'll be 65

what a bummer

as Chow Yun Fatt said in Pirates of the Carribean 3: "welcome to Singapore", i wonder if there's any link there..

Of Football Match

2009-01-04T21:35:00.002+08:00

I played a match today, half a match actually, as a left-back.. somehow it seems that i have not really decided on a fixed position on the field yet.. i operated as a defensive midfielder for my squad team the "Wild Parrots" and also occasionally as left-back, right-back or centre-back.. i was also pushed into the wingers on one occasion..

i was fit then

i was fit then

i'm nowhere near fit now. its apparent that i didn't run as hard as a left-back should today, my heading was poor, my marking was loose and the tackles that i made hardly connected while the clearances were more like fly-swatting as opposed to the blast off that they should have been..

i short, i had a poor game

the team won 2-1

i had a poor game, we won 2-1.. oh well

i know i have to improve my fitness but i'm lazy, the next match is on sat, on a smaller artificial pitch, hope i turn in a better performance

Of Happy 2009

2009-01-01T14:39:00.001+08:00

My 329th post and its the first day of 2009...

I slept through the last hour of 2008 and slept through early hours of 2009 too.

There's no 2008 review done this year in my blog, i didn't participate in any countdown activities either.

Hope those folks who were at Marina Bay and VivoCity had fun.

Hope those folks who were working at Marina Bay and VivoCity get a good rest today, and tomorrow, and the weekend.

Happy New Year people!

Have a good 2009

Of Wat Times?

2008-12-30T23:22:00.003+08:00

Our Number 1 local papers have done it again, pardon me if its my english that needs polishing, but there is no way i can make sense of this sentence they posted:

"Cambodia faced problems enforced new sex trafficking law"

You mean guys meant "enforcing" right?

Of Song & Poetry

2008-12-28T22:26:00.002+08:00

《如燕》

词曲：陈佳明

编曲：Terence Teo

制作人：陈佳明

演唱：Olivia Ong

愿意合上眼才能美梦无边

别让悔熏乌了从前

也许碎片才能让回忆展颜

何妨瓷花拼凑明天

谁带我寻获幸福的模

却自己谜中困锁

谁为我留下缱绻的天涯

信物是抹晚霞

Chorus:

思念如燕它飞舞舌尖

若是真爱配尝几分苦甜

意念婆娑时间里推磨

追随到何处才结果

燕如针线在青空缝编

几幅女红将以泪缀点

誓言斑驳情雾只是经过

风雨中且让我盈步婀娜

Of Convocation

2008-12-21T23:04:00.008+08:00

Curtin University of Technology, Australia
Singapore Graduation Ceremony 2009

Sunday, 25 October 2009, 10.00am

Raffles Convention Centre, Singapore

Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing & Advertising) with Distinction

Of Bei Shan Chuan Steamboat

2008-12-21T17:48:00.002+08:00

It was a lazy sunday morning and a very last minute arrangement lunch with the guys, liang and fred.

Bei Shan Chuan Steamboat at VivoCity was the choice venue, the air-conditioned buffet steamboat having been opened for awhile though this was a first visit for all three of us, in fact, it was the first time that we had lunch together in a long long while, much less a steamboat buffet lunch..

Price for adults on weekends are slightly on the heavier side costing 18.90++ per adult, we didn't see the NSF discount earlier, if not, the bill would definitely be cheaper since liang is still an NSF, while, we was re-NSF after he got back his civilian life for his university studies

Drinks were also expensive where juices cost like 3 bucks while soft drinks went for 2. Okie, enough about price

For the soup base, we were able to choose between seafood, chicken and ma-la(spicy), we took the chicken and ma-la soup base while the electric induction cooker meant that there was no direct flame in the restaurant

I was quite impressed with the variety of food that Bei Shan Chuan had to offer, there was a good spread of vegetables, meats and the usual yong-tou-fu stuff, my favourite being the sliced beef that was of good quality

We were in fact the earliest to arrive (opens at 12) and didn't have much problem with the food replenishment though the beef did run out at one time because liang said some botak took all the beef away, haha..

Surprising, i didn't whack prawns this time round, i have less than 10, which is a record low for me in steamboat.. turns out that my 2 friends of more than 10 years both don't really take prawn.. maybe some of you might think that friends for so long then you don't know they don't eat prawns? Well.. we are not those know everything kind of friends and we are just fine with that thank you very much.. fred didn't remember that i don't take spicy food too, but it doesn't really bother me at all.. it doesn't matter at all in fact..

So in all, we were quite satisfied with the food quality and variety and we didn't even think about desserts since we never intended to pack our tummy with food..

The service, well, lets say there almost wasn't any.. the only time the male staff(uncle) finally smiled to me was when i signed off the $79.20 bill for 3 adults and 4 drinks ordered.. the 10% service charge was not worthy at all.. but i guess in SG culture, we are not so direct to ask not to pay for the 10% when we think that the service was not there..

All in all, it was the company that counts and not the cost of the meal.. it was great to see the guys again and hear about how each other are doing over hot soup, good meat and good food..

There was a piece of news that i was supposed to share but did not find an opportunity to, till next time when we meet up again then

Of Free Rice

2008-12-18T22:51:00.004+08:00

If you have time to spend on the net and time to read my blog, do visit this website now and play your part in donating rice to hungry people!

By spending just a few minutes of your time playing simple games like english vocab or naming the capital of countries, you can make a difference!

About FreeRice
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Of Karma Points

2008-12-18T00:06:00.001+08:00

Now i'm not trying to push Buddhist concepts to you.. but for those who are close enough to me, you should be aware that my religious orientations tends to be closer towards the Buddhist train of thoughts, not exacting your local sense of Buddhism but more of a zen Buddhism sort that's really hard to explain through this blog.

What brings us to the topic of the day now is the concept of Karma Points, first heard and introduced by a guy i spend 9 months with.. shock? well, ask me for details and i'll tell you

So, Karma points - it helps when you already know what karma means, and it'll leave you scratching your heads if you don't, monks scratch their heads once in awhile too you know..

karma, simply put (ie. my version) is a general concept that things eventually balances out.. the complication here is that the calculation begins why before your current life.. so what you have done well today might not be rewarded this lifetime, likewise some evil that you have committed doesn't mean you will suffer the full effects now, get it?

If you aren't already confused, it is generally considered positive karma for all of us here reading this because you are human, now how bad can that be compared to that lizard crawling outside my window and that bird that's sleeping on the tree by the main road.. you get the picture don't you..

So now, karma points are earned/deducted by the deeds that you do... points are added when good acts are done, such as giving up your seat on the bus/mrt to someone who needs it more than you, donating blood at this weekend's blood donation drive at doby ghaut MRT station and telling me how i have lost weight the next time you see me(now i'm not sure if lying but making me happy will have a positive or negative impact on your points, but just give me some joy alright)

Points are effectively deducted when you do things less desirable.. throwing that litter on the floor, cursing that guy who squeeze pass you into the train earlier although he's wrong, cursing that colleague for throwing shitloads on you while they go for some exotic holiday, stomping on those ants/cockroaches on your way home or simply when you comment or think in your head how silly i am to believe in karma..

So its a system of points that evens out in some way or another, do you believe in karma?

earn some karma points today! :)

Of Shit Times

2008-12-15T20:44:00.002+08:00

Only in Singapore:

Straits Times

Dec 14, 2008

Improving traffic congestion

More say ERP helps

WHEN a new set of Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries begin operation, a chorus of complaints is heard and jokes - ERP gantries drawn above lift doors - are circulated freely on the Internet.

But the reality is that more Singaporeans now believe that this means of congestion control actually gives them a smoother ride to work.

About 26 per cent of drivers polled this year said ERP had reduced traffic compared to 15 per cent last year.

---------------------

More Singaporeans now believe that this means of congestion control actually gives them a smoother ride to work? Is 26% more? Wow

Welcome to our national papers, the Shit Times that publishes the best news that government leaders and policy makers like to see when they open their No.1 nation press in the morning when they slip their coffee.. my people are starting to like my ideas more now, 15% like now there are 26% who like! So good.. my policies rock!

Me: Eh.. how about the 74% who disagreed that the erp helped?

Policy-Maker(PM): what 74%? the papers never say

Me: See, 100% is the full respondents right, so 26% agree, means 74% disagree right

PM: No, that's not true, only 26% agree and that's an increase from 15%, be thankful and our policies have made things better!

Me: But 26% is a low percentage

PM: There is no proof of that, see, its not stated in the papers, i'm sure the percentage will increase!

Me: Okie if you insist(wtf sia).. but 26% of respondents saying that your erp help hardly supports the headline "More say ERP helps", you understand what is more or not?

PM: Of course, 15% less, 26% more, therefore MORE say ERP help understand? Be thankful!

Me: really wtf sia..

Of The Day when Earth

2008-12-12T21:27:00.002+08:00

The Day when Earth Stood Still...

Spoiler warning... DO NOT READ if you intend to watch the movie.. rather, return after you have seen the movie to know what i'm trying to say..

Seriously.. don't spoil the story for yourself!

Keanu Reeves feels like Neo.. i think he was born for such roles...

Okie now.. you had your chance, now read on

I especially like the part where the alien paid by Neo said plainly.. if the earth dies, you die.. if you die, the earth lives, we cannot risk the earth dying

Well, something like that, and well said.. Perhaps mankind have really reached a tipping point that we lack the will to change our ways and lifestyle to preserve the Earth itself.. its ironic how we need an ailen being to remind us that the earth never belonged to us it the first place..

those who believe that this end of the world could one day come would also link it to religious view of our Armageddon shall befall this planet and end human life..

Thinking back about the show, humans fight for a chance to change and continue to live.. and the alien(Neo) gave in and stopped the "sequence".. if the show had continue for another 5hours, 50hours, do you think this incident and crisis on it own will be strong enough to change the way people think?

Excuses will continue to be made about how more time is needed, somethings cannot be compromised, we need to keep certain things to.. humans, myself included, is just too selfish and too weak-minded to change..

I say we deserve to be terminated if there exist a stronger life form that has the ability to wipe us out for Earth's sake.. is the sacrifice of our species for a planet such as Earth worth it?

Of course it is.. we deserve nothing for all that we have taken from Earth.. what have we given back? Nothing.. nothing at all

Of I'm done!

2008-12-11T18:53:00.002+08:00

With the results finally released on 10 Dec.. while 9 Dec night to be precise, i have officially completed my Bachelor of Commerce with double majors in Marketing and Advertising!

I must say that i am more than happy with my results for this semester.. the Curtin Study Trip, where i fulfilled the module "Marketing Professional Practice" can be counted as part of this trimester as it was a special intensive module that was done in between 2 trimesters.. the trip saw me record my first High Distinction (80 marks onwards) and i just managed that high D at 80 for this module..

now with the results released, i have happily added another high distinction to my record, and this time round, there is no doubt that i fully deserve my grade for the amount of effort that i have put in to understand the module and plan my strategies correctly to achieve maximum results.. the outcome? well.. 35% out of 35% for the team simulation was perhaps the stepping stone to a good grade, still another 45% before the 80-mark.. and at the end of it, my grand total for the module, Business Capstone stood at 93.

93.. i haven't seen myself score anything like this since maybe primary school examinations and perhaps my economics mini-test in poly.. so for sure, i'm a happy man!

Up next, Strategic Marketing, a module that reminds me of International Business in Temasek Polytechnic.. yet another one of my favourite module, i didn't always like the overseas lecturer for his module.. It doesn't help that he is the Head of the School of Marketing in Curtin back in Bentley Campus in Perth.. the issue with this experienced old chap is that he treats all his students like full-time students.. which is.. good.. if you have the time to fulfil all his requirements.. weekly tutorials to be submitted, final exams that are weighted way too heavily at 50%, final exams that practically covered the entire textbook..

just a brief recap.. the last time i had to take a module under this gentleman.. the module was named Retail Management & Distribution.. that turned out to be my worst score in my curtin life.. a mere 62 for this module and hence my one-and-only-not-so-proud-to-have Credit in my transcript

so naturally, the fear of failure, well.. maybe more of just credit, did creep up on me while i was doing the paper.. but i did work harder to remember the concepts, pardon me, but i understood almost everything that i had to learn, i just had problem memorising certain points and listing those points down like i was a bio-photocopier

so i waited silently and bravely hoped for a Distinction for Strategic Marketing.. a score of 74 for this paper was worth the effort and i'm sure the team effort that was placed in making the report tip-top contributed greatly to the score, thanks mates, you know who you ladies are!

and so.. the grand old picture now.. i'm done!

there's something that perhaps not every student is aware of.. the following information is subjected to confirmation from the authorities, so pardon me if there are any misrepresentations.. for students who scored 75% for their overall aggregate (ie. sum of all scores divided by number of modules) gets a Bachelor with Distinction!

So my certificate is likely to read "Bachelor of Commerce with double majors in Marketing and Advertising with Distinction"

why likely? cause i have a credit among the rest.. 2 High Distinctions, 9 Distinctions and 1 Credit with a aggregate score of 75.17

i hope i do get it

So finally, it's over, a big congratulations to all who have completed their Bachelor as of 10 Dec, like me, rejoice and celebration and we shall cheer for each other once more during the convocation.. for those who continue to strive for another trimester(or two), take heed that the journey has been taken before and your time will come..

All the best!

Of Stomping

2008-12-06T10:58:00.006+08:00

So this is citizen "journalism" in action uh?

Its interesting how the whole article was produced when all i did was submit the picture with the header "Another old man standing"

What was my message? What did i want to communicate?

It's almost funny too when you read the comments from other readers on how aunties are the worst of the lot while on the other hand, you have people who are criticise klayhead for just posting the picture and doing nothing to help the old man..

now what's your take?

For those who know me well enough, what do you think i would have done/did in this situation?

It's your call, that's journalism and how your interpretation, that's the power of new media

Of YL

2008-12-02T01:15:00.002+08:00

Today (01Dec), the first day of the last month of 2008 marks the end of my friend's journey in his pursue for his Bachelor's degree.. through all up and downs and years of textbooks, exams, numbers and programming code.. he has completed his journey when he walked out from his presentation room today

ROD he screamed!

To some extend, i too shared this same joy when i walked out of the examination room at MIS@Raeburn park.. indeed, MIS has shifted so many times that one can never be sure which MIS i'm refering to..

but i wonder, does my friend feel the same anxiety that i feel now, while waiting for my results to appear on the Oasis system that Curtin uses to keep their students informed of the results? Both he and i know pretty well that the chance of us failing is extremely low. Yet, neither of us belongs to the group that wishes just to pass.. we have expectations of ourselves and we do strive to meet them.. i, get lazy sometimes..

9 more days and the wait will be over.. well 8 to be exact..

10dec, come on, hurry up

oh yes, i almost forgot, congrats YL, you did it!

Of Terror

2008-11-30T17:26:00.003+08:00

The face of terror is cold and hard, what drives humans to kill others and cause widespread destruction?

Terrorist mark out their attacks and remind themselves over and over again on what they need to do before the faithful day where they execute their plan..

Well-drilled in weaponary and merciless in execution, there is little regard for life..

When terror strikes, what can ordinary folks like us do? What would people with power and force do?

Striking back

Hit them hard and make sure they can never return again, hit them so hard they can never stand again